In an email sent to Twitter staff today, CEO and company co-founder Jack Dorsey announced his resignation from the company.
“After almost 16 years of having a role at our company…from co-founder to CEO to Chair to Exec Chair to interim-CEO to CEO…I decided it’s finally time for me to leave,” Dorsey wrote, before asking a simple question.
“Why?,” he asked himself.
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“There’s a lot of talk about the importance of a company being ‘founder-led,” he wrote. “Ultimately I believe that’s severely limiting and a single point of failure. I’ve worked hard to ensure this company can break away from its founding and founders. There are 3 reasons I believe now is the right time.”
Dorsey goes on to explain that current Twitter CTO, Parag Agrawal, will take over as CEO and that Agrawal “has been behind every critical decision that helped turned [the] company around,” and that his trust in him as CEO is “bone deep.” Dorsey thanked Bret Taylor for becoming the company’s board chair, and finally took some time to acknowledge the hard work of the entire Twitter staff.
The former Twitter CEO announced that Agrawal would assume his role immediately, and that he would stay on the company’s board until the end of his term around May, and after that, he will leave the company entirely.
In a final message to the Twitter staff, Dorsey explained how difficult this decision was for him, but that he knows it is the correct one.
“I want you all to know that this was my decision and I own it. It was a tough one for me, of course,” he wrote. “I love this service and company…and all of you so much. I’m really sad…yet really happy. There aren’t many companies that get to this level. And there aren’t many founders that chooses their company over their own ego. I know we’ll prove this is the right move.”
While Dorsey was thorough in explaining why now is the correct time for him to step down, the question of what he will do next is open-ended. Two weeks ago, TIDAL (which Dorsey’s company Square purchased Jay-Z’s majority stake in) announced their new tier system, including a free tier and better payouts to artists. It will be interesting to see if, after leaving the Twitter board in May, if Dorsey goes all-in on TIDAL in an effort to compete with the Apple Musics and Spotifys of the world.
What do you think of Dorsey’s decision to step down as Twitter CEO? Let us know down in the comments.