In a major development, Twitter on Monday confirmed that its CEO Jack Dorsey is stepping down from the position. Parag Agrawal, the company’s present CTO, will be appointed as the new CEO.
Parag Agrawal has been working with Twitter for over 10 years and was appointed as Chief Technology Officer in 2017.
“I’ve decided to leave Twitter because I believe the company is ready to move on from its founders. My trust in Parag as Twitter’s CEO is deep. His work over the past 10 years has been transformational. I’m deeply grateful for his skill, heart, and soul. It’s his time to lead,” said Dorsey.
The company also said that Dorsey will remain a member of the Board until his term expires at the 2022 meeting of stakeholders.
Twitter’s stock, which has consistently underperformed the market, jumped more than 10% at the opening bell Monday before trading was halted pending news.
CNBC first reported that Dorsey may step down soon, citing anonymous sources.
On Sunday, Dorsey sent the tweet “I love Twitter.”
Dorsey is also the top executive at Square, a financial payments company that he founded, and some big investors have openly questioned whether he can be effective leading both.
Last year, the company came to an agreement with two of those activist investors that kept Dorsey in the top job and gave a seat on the company board to Elliott Management Corp., which owned about 4% of Twitter’s stock, and another to Silver Lake.Â
