On Monday, Jack Dorsey resigned as CEO of Twitter, the social media platform he co-founded in 2006 and guided through the turbulent years of the Trump presidency and mounting calls for regulation from lawmakers around the world.
He was replaced by Parag Agrawal, who has recently been working on technologies related to cryptocurrencies, which have piqued the interest of the internet industry's power brokers, including Mr. Dorsey, as the company's chief technology officer.
Mr. Dorsey's departure represents a significant shift at Twitter, which has faced years of pressure from investors who believed it was not profitable enough, as well as criticism from Washington, particularly from Republican lawmakers who claim Twitter has stifled conservative voices on social media.
not sure anyone has heard but,
— jack⚡️ (@jack) November 29, 2021
I resigned from Twitter pic.twitter.com/G5tUkSSxkl
Former President Donald J. Trump, who used his Twitter feed to threaten his adversaries and keep his allies in line, was the most famous of these voices. Mr. Trump was banned from Twitter shortly after the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Mr. Dorsey, 45, is also the CEO of Square, a payments startup. He was dismissed from Twitter's top job in 2008 but returned in 2015. His resignation is the second major shake-up at a major social media business in as many months. Facebook changed its name to Meta last month.The shift was backed by a new corporate logo and a focus on a virtual environment known as the metaverse, although Mark Zuckerberg, the company's high-profile CEO, will remain in charge.
Mr. Dorsey's departure marks a significant shift in the company's leadership. Mr. Dorsey's name has become as synonymous with Twitter as Mr. Zuckerberg's has been with Facebook, despite the fact that Twitter is a fraction of the size of Facebook. Mr. Dorsey has become a celebrity outside of Silicon Valley, with his long facial hair and personal wellness goals mocked on "Saturday Night Live" and mocked on his own social networking site.
Mr. Agrawal was chosen by Mr. Dorsey to lead Twitter's contributions to Bluesky, a project that is funded by Twitter but runs independently. Jay Graber, a bitcoin developer and the founder of a social events start-up, was hired by Twitter to lead Bluesky in August.
Mr. Agrawal, 37, is a low-profile character who began his career as an engineer at Twitter over a decade ago. He rose through the ranks of the corporation, eventually becoming its chief technology officer in 2017.
In his email, Mr. Dorsey stated, “Parag has been behind every critical decision that helped turn this company around,” Mr. Dorsey said in his email. “My trust in him as our C.E.O. is bone-deep.”