[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] Jack Dorsey, co-founder of social media platform Twitter, is stepping down from his position as CEO, according to reports by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and others on the 29th (local time).
Dorsey announced that he will step down as CEO on this day but will remain a board member until the shareholders' meeting in May next year.
His successor will be current Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Parag Agrawal. Brett Taylor, a Twitter director and President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Salesforce, has been appointed as the chairman of the board.
In a statement, Dorsey said, "I have decided to leave the company because I believe it is ready to move beyond the founder era," but did not disclose specific reasons for his resignation.
However, he noted that he does not always think that the 'founder-led management,' considered a virtue in Silicon Valley, is positive.
Dorsey said, "Ultimately, I think it (founder-led management) can seriously limit the company and reach a point where it can damage the entire system," adding, "I believe it is important for the company to be independent from the influence or direction of the founder."
WSJ cited that Dorsey’s resignation decision was influenced by leadership challenges from Wall Street activist investors since last year. The U.S. activist hedge fund Elliott Management had acquired a large stake in Twitter in March last year and demanded Dorsey’s replacement as CEO.
Dorsey concurrently serves as CEO of Twitter and the mobile payment company Square, and Elliott argued that he should step down from one of the two publicly traded companies to focus on management.
Twitter eventually agreed with Elliott to keep Dorsey as CEO on the condition of appointing two new directors and committing $2 billion (approximately 2.39 trillion KRW) to share buybacks.
Dorsey first became CEO shortly after Twitter’s launch in 2006 but was fired by the company in 2008 due to concerns about his management style and frequent absences. He returned to the CEO position in 2015.
WSJ described Dorsey, known for his long beard and nose ring, as one of the most enigmatic figures in the business world and one of the most prominent personalities in Silicon Valley, noting his management style of delegating most important company decisions to subordinates to pursue personal passions.
He was also criticized for eccentric behavior, such as his surprise announcement in 2019 that he would stay in Africa for 3 to 6 months, claiming that the future of Bitcoin lies there.
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