He is to be replaced by Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s chief technology officer, the company has said. The CEO change is effective immediately and Dorsey will remain on the board until his term expires at the 2022 annual shareholder meeting.
Dorsey, who co-founded Twitter in 2006, has been chief executive of both Twitter and payment firm Square.
“It’s finally time for me to leave” he wrote in a statement, saying the company was “ready to move on.”
Agrawal joined Twitter in 2011, and has been the firm’s head of technology since 2017.
Jack Dorsey lead Twitter through the boisterous years of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration before banning the him from the platform after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. He used his platform to stimulate support for last year’s Nigeria #EndSars protests, which began as a movement against police brutality and transformed into a confrontation between the political class and Nigeria’s youth.
He challenges corporate conventions with his nose-ring, long beard, and a wellness regime. But he came under pressure from investors, who felt Twitter was not getting the focus it needed while he was also running Square.
On Sunday, Dorsey tweeted, apparently unprompted: “I love Twitter.”
On the same day before the official corporate statement, Dorsey tweeted: “Not sure anyone has heard but I resigned from Twitter.”
The 45-year-old co-founded the company with Biz Stone, Evan Williams and Noah Glass in 2006.
Dorsey has, however, become the face of the company, having sent the earliest tweets on the service and due to his long tenure as chief executive.
He left the role of Twitter chief in 2008 and founded the digital payments app Square, which has also grown into a multi-billion dollar company.
He however returned to lead in 2015 after then-chief executive Dick Costolo stepped down. The role has seen him appear in televised inquiries before US politicians to be quizzed about his platform and its potential role in the spread of disinformation – something Twitter has been repeatedly accused of acting too slowly on in recent years.
Like other social media sites, it has also been accused of political bias on both sides of the US political divide.
Twitter shares have jumped 85% since Dorsey took over as CEO on Oct 5. 2015. Square stock has surged 1,566% since its initial public offering on Nov. 19, 2015.
