As you will have probably heard by now, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey recently announced his resignation from his role as CEO of the social media company.
The somewhat surprising move marks the end of Dorsey’s controversial tenure as CEO of Block (formerly: Square) and Twitter. It was the running of both Twitter and Block – the latter of which is Dorsey’s digital payments company – that led Twitter stakeholders Elliott Management and billionaire investor Paul Singer to demand he step away from one of the roles.
Jack Dorsey originally co-founded Square in 2009, the last time he was pushed out of the top job at Twitter. He would eventually make his return as chief executive six years later.
RELATED: Jay-Z Sells Tidal To Jack Dorsey’s Square For Almost $400 Million
Following the announcement of Dorsey’s resignation on CNBC, Twitter shares rose 11% before being briefly suspended. In terms of Jack Dorsey’s own holdings, that translated to a gain of roughly US$59 million (AU$83 million).
According to Forbes, Dorsey’s stakes in Twitter and Square have helped him amass a personal fortune that exceeds US$12 billion (AU$16.9 billion). Back in April, Dorsey announced plans to donate US$1 billion (AU$1.4 billion) to programs centred around COVID-19 relief, “girls’ health and education”, as well as the study of universal basic income (UBI).
Twitter announced on Tuesday that Dorsey’s replacement will be the former-Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Parag Agrawal. While Dorsey will surrender his CEO position effective immediately, he will remain on the board until Twitter’s stockholder meeting in 2022. Dorsey expressed his support for Agrawal as his successor in an email that he shared to Twitter.
“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.
“I want you all to know this was my decision and I own it.”
While not quite as long as Dorsey’s 16-year tenure, Agrawal has been with Twitter for a decade and served as CTO since 2017. In response to the news of his recent promotion, he shared praise for his former boss:
“I want to thank the board for their confidence in my leadership and Jack for his continued mentorship, support and partnership.”
Dorsey, who is currently 45, originally celebrated the co-founding of the microblogging site in 2006 by posting the now-famous: “Just setting up my twttr.” The world’s first tweet was actually sold earlier this year as an NFT for upwards of $3 million. With plenty of time on his hands as he enters retirement, maybe we could be seeing more activity from the big fella within the NFT space.
