Jack Dorsey shocked the world on Monday when he stepped down as the CEO of Twitter.

“I’ve decided to leave Twitter because I believe the company is ready to move on from its founders,” Dorsey said in a statement. “My trust in Parag as Twitter’s CEO is deep. His work over the past ten years has been transformational. I’m deeply grateful for his skill, heart, and soul. It’s his time to lead.”

Sources had confirmed to CNBC that Dorsey would be stepping down at some point today. This ends his five-year run as the CEO of the social media company, and he will reportedly be staying on as the CEO of Square, his digital payments company. At the time of this writing, Dorsey is the only person to be CEO of two public companies with market valuations of greater than $5 billion, according to NBC News.

In the wake of reports that Dorsey is stepping down, Twitter stock jumped as much as 10% in pre-market trading.

Dorsey was fired as CEO of Twitter back in 2008, but he returned in 2015. His leadership has been questioned by many staffers in the past, as they felt that he is unfocused and spends too much of his time on Square as well as on other passion projects. Last year, the investment firms Elliott Management and Silver Lake launched an attempt to oust Dorsey from his job as Twitter CEO, but they were ultimately unsuccessful in doing so.

“As a Board, we regularly review and evaluate how Twitter is run, and while our CEO structure is unique, so is Jack and so is this Company,” lead independent director Patrick Pichette said in a statement explaining why the board at Twitter decided to keep Dorsey on.

Dorsey’s replacement as CEO of Twitter is reportedly CTO Parag Agrawalt.

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t to thank Jack for his visionary leadership and unrelenting dedication to Twitter since its founding,” said Bret Taylor, Twitter’s incoming Independent Board Chair. “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.”

“Parag understands Twitter and appreciates the Company’s unique potential,” he added. “He has been instrumental in tackling our most important priorities, including accelerating our development velocity, and I know he’ll hit the ground running to strengthen execution and deliver results. The Board has the utmost confidence in Parag.”

“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.”

This piece was written by James Samson on November 29, 2021. It originally appeared in RedVoiceMedia.com and is used by permission.

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