SAN FRANCISCO — Jack Dorsey is stepping down as chief government of Twitter, the social media website he co-founded in 2006 and guided by the tumultuous years of the Trump administration.
Twitter introduced Mr. Dorsey’s departure on Monday. He’s being changed by Parag Agrawal, the corporate’s present chief expertise officer. Mr. Dorsey’s plans have been first reported by CNBC. A Twitter spokeswoman didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Mr. Dorsey’s exit will mark a major shift on the firm, which has navigated years of strain from buyers and growing criticism from Washington, significantly Republican lawmakers who complain Twitter has contributed to a stifling of conservative voices in social media.
Essentially the most outstanding of these voices was that of former President Donald J. Trump, who used his Twitter feed to threaten enemies and preserve his allies in line. Twitter banned Mr. Trump shortly after the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol final yr.
Mr. Dorsey, who can also be the chief government of the funds firm Sq., was fired from the highest job at Twitter in 2008 however returned in 2015.
His management has been questioned by workers and buyers who believed that he was unfocused and spent an excessive amount of of his time on Sq. and different ardour tasks. His departure comes a yr and a half after Mr. Dorsey survived an tried ouster from the activist investor Elliott Administration.
Chief amongst Elliott’s considerations was that Mr. Dorsey’s consideration was divided between the 2 corporations he led. The agency believed that Twitter had fallen behind social media rivals in growing its inventory value and including modern new merchandise.
Some workers rallied round Mr. Dorsey through the try to pressure him out, utilizing the hashtag #WeBackJack as a rallying cry.
In March 2020, Elliott Administration struck a take care of Silver Lake, one among Silicon Valley’s greatest buyers in expertise corporations, that allowed Mr. Dorsey to remain on at Twitter. The deal additionally gave Jesse Cohn, the Elliott government who oversaw the Twitter marketing campaign, a seat on Twitter’s board, which he relinquished in June.
After the takeover try, Twitter’s inventory started to climb, and in February, Mr. Dorsey introduced an formidable plan to double Twitter’s income by the top of 2023.
However a few of Twitter’s inventory market beneficial properties have slipped away in current months, with the inventory now price roughly the identical because it was a yr in the past. Within the third quarter, Twitter stated its income grew 37 p.c from a yr in the past, to $1.28 billion, however that it incurred a lack of $537 million.
Along with investor scrutiny, Mr. Dorsey has additionally confronted strain from legislators. Some have demanded that the corporate do extra to handle misinformation and hate speech on the platform, whereas others have accused Mr. Dorsey of censorship and argued Twitter ought to permit extra content material to stay on-line.
The moderation points, and the legislative debate swirling round them, have been a persistent irritation for Mr. Dorsey. He had envisioned Twitter as a platform without cost speech and bristled on the concept of eradicating content material, particularly from world leaders and different newsworthy figures.
However Mr. Trump’s incendiary tweets examined Mr. Dorsey’s stance. Twitter at first compromised by labeling a few of Mr. Trump’s tweets as misinformation, earlier than lastly eradicating his account.
The vast majority of Mr. Dorsey’s wealth comes from Sq., which he based in 2009 throughout his final departure from Twitter. Final April, Mr. Dorsey introduced he would donate $1 billion, or practically a 3rd of his whole wealth, to reduction packages associated to the coronavirus and different philanthropic endeavors.
Twitter’s inventory jumped 5 p.c on the information earlier than a halt in buying and selling.
On Sunday night time, in what was maybe a foreshadowing of the information to return, Mr. Dorsey tweeted, “I like Twitter.”
In an electronic mail to Twitter workers saying his departure, Mr. Dorsey stated he wished Twitter to cease being a founder-led firm, which could possibly be a weak spot over time. “I’ve labored arduous to make sure this firm can break free from its founding and founders,” he wrote. “I consider it’s essential an organization can stand by itself, freed from its founder’s affect or path.”
“There aren’t many corporations that get to this degree. And there aren’t many founders that select their firm over their very own ego,” Mr. Dorsey added.
This can be a creating story. Examine again for updates.