SAN FRANCISCO—Twitter, Inc. has announced that Jack Dorsey has decided to step down as CEO and that the Board of Directors has unanimously appointed Parag Agrawal as CEO and a member of the Board, effective immediately.
The company said that in the wake of the announcement there were “no changes to the Company's previously shared outlook for the fourth quarter and full year 2021, or its 2023 goals.”
By 2:15 p.m. ET, the company’s shares had fallen 1.55% to $46.30 in the day’s trading.
Dorsey will remain a member of the Board until his term expires at the 2022 meeting of stockholders.
In addition Bret Taylor was named the new chairman of the Board, succeeding Patrick Pichette who will remain on the Board and continue to serve as chair of the Audit Committee. Agrawal has been with Twitter for more than a decade and has served as Chief Technology Officer since 2017.
"I've decided to leave Twitter because I believe the company is ready to move on from its founders,” Dorsey said. “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.”
Bret Taylor, Twitter's incoming Independent Board Chair said, "On behalf of the Board, I want to thank Jack for his visionary leadership and unrelenting dedication to Twitter since its founding. Jack returned to Twitter and turned the Company around at the most critical time. The progress since then has been nothing short of incredible. Jack has given the world something invaluable and we will continue to carry it forward."
"I want to thank the Board for their confidence in my leadership and Jack for his continued mentorship, support, and partnership," said Agrawal. "I look forward to building on everything we have accomplished under Jack's leadership and I am incredibly energized by the opportunities ahead. By continuing to improve our execution, we will deliver tremendous value for our customers and shareholders as we reshape the future of public conversation."
Parag Agrawal joined Twitter in 2011 and has served as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) since October 2017. As CTO, he has been responsible for the Company's technical strategy, leading work to improve development velocity while advancing the state of Machine Learning across the company.
Prior to being appointed CTO, Parag had risen to be Twitter's first Distinguished Engineer due to his work across revenue and consumer engineering, including his impact on the re-acceleration of audience growth in 2016 and 2017.
Parag holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Stanford University and a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.
