Jack Dorsey, a multitasking visionary with a wizard beard, will resign as CEO of Twitter

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Twitter’s co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey will resign as CEO of the company, marking the end of the company’s era, which was founded by forward-thinking but sometimes distracted Human shaping and guidance. Dorsey will serve on Twitter’s board of directors until at least next year.

This news was first reported by CNBC and was a surprise in some respects, especially considering the time: Twitter’s corporate holidays on Monday morning and after Thanksgiving weekend.

In other respects, Dorsey’s resignation had long been expected.Wall Street investors criticized the external interests of the Twitter co-founder: running Square, another important technology company he founded; pursuing future projects Use blockchain to decentralize the Internet; with Travel around the world. Just last year, powerful activist investors Elliott Management Push him to resign more actively.

Dorsey’s successor is former Twitter CTO Parag Agrawal. He has been with the company for 10 years and is regarded by employees as a trustworthy leader. Agrawal is responsible for implementing Dorsey’s vision, which is to build a decentralized social media version based on blockchain technology that allows users to choose their own algorithms.

Although it is too early to say whether and how Twitter will operate in a different way under Agrawal’s leadership, what we do know is that the company is losing its vision-oriented, original founding leader. He may be the absent CEO at times, but he is still respected by many in the technology industry because he invented a platform for the public to talk to each other on trivial and world-changing topics, while maintaining a sense of humor and a sense of eccentricity.

“I hope you all know that this is my decision and I own it. Of course, it is very difficult for me. I like the service and the company…and all of you. I’m really sad… .But really happy,” Dorsey wrote in a company email on Monday He also tweeted“Not many companies have reached this level. Not many founders choose their company over their ego. I know we will prove that this is the right move.”

You can read Dorsey’s emphasis on the “founder self” in his farewell letter. This is a mockery of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg founded the company 17 years ago. It seems There is no plan to give up control over it. Unlike Zuckerberg, Dorsey has always made some key decisions (such as whether to kick former President Donald Trump off the platform) to his employees (such as the chief legal officer). The name does not interfere. Vijaya Gad, His team finally called for a ban on Trump, Dorsey’s signature (Dorsey Reportedly traveling in French Polynesia Around the time of decision).

Dorsey is an unconventional leader in some ways, and under his guidance, Twitter’s approach is a bit different. Although Twitter has encountered the same issues that every major social media platform faces with respect to hate speech, extremism, and harassment, it managed to get praise from members of the social media research community because it provides more transparency, at least with competition Rivals are more viral on their platforms. As the social media platform of choice for world leaders, journalists, and many celebrities and newsworthy figures, the company clearly has incredible influence.

But at the same time, it has struggle Get the same number of users and financial success as competitors such as YouTube, TikTok and Facebook. This is partly because, unlike some competitors, Twitter has adopted a relatively cautious approach to developing its products. For a long time, Twitter was not focused on making money; it did not sell ads for many years. Its product design has not changed much. It also did not habitually acquire or copy its competitors as Facebook often does.

In recent years, some of Dorsey’s personal plans and interests have given external critics more reasons to promote his successor.As we all know, Dorsey wants to leave Silicon Valley Emigrate to Africa For at least three months in 2019 (he later cancelled these plans), in the past few years, he began to devote more time to the development of the new decentralized social media ecosystem Bluesky. In Dorsey’s tweets and public interviews in the past few years, he spent more time talking about Bluesky, encryption, blockchain, and other related decentralized Internet efforts, rather than developing Twitter’s main product itself.

Elliott Management Group uses Dorsey’s distraction as the backbone of its failure Trying to drive Dorsey out The company last year.

Nevertheless, despite these challenges, Dorsey still put Twitter in a relatively strong position compared to a year ago.In recent months, Twitter Monetize more products Surpass advertising at a fast speed, Launch of Twitter Blue and other tools, The paid subscription version of the platform. And the company’s earnings in the past few quarters have been relatively strong.

A former Twitter executive told Recode: “Jack said he chose the company instead of his own self, but I think it is the best for the company-he can say that the stock has risen when he leaves.” The source also said. Said that Dorsey trusts the new CEO Agrawal, he has realized his vision. “Changes in leadership always give engineers reason to panic… Therefore, appointing a CTO can give engineers peace of mind and maintain the stable and iterative product direction that Jack oversees.”

Dorsey Resign as CEO of Twitter Once, after being eliminated by his board of directors in 2008, there was only one Steve Jobs’ return in 2015. However, it seems unlikely that he will come back a second time.

There are still many things we don’t know about Twitter’s leadership changes. In the next few weeks, we should learn more about Dorsey’s exit and possible changes in the company under Agrawal’s leadership.

But what is most clear now is that Dorsey’s exit is another example of other important technology company trends.As my colleague Peter Kafka wrote earlier this year Amazon founder Jeff Bezos Says he will resign as CEO, but Big Tech has become so big that it no longer needs a demigod founder of a startup company to be at the helm. Bezos, Apple’s Steve Jobs, and Google’s Sergey Brin and Larry Page all handed over their companies to lower-key credible butlers—companies that are still financially sound.

The exception is Mark Zuckerberg, the tech founder CEO does not seem to have a plan to step down, even though he and his company have been mired in scandals. Unlike Dorsey, Zuckerberg was rewarded by Wall Street for his unremitting attention to the company’s profit growth. Unlike Dorsey, Zuckerberg managed to unilaterally control his board of directors through negotiations from the beginning.

If Dorsey has more power over the Twitter board, or if he expands the company like Facebook, he can still be responsible.

But on the contrary, Twitter will enter a new era-an era without weirdness, Wizard Beard leader Who controls Congress And full of poetry about the future of decentralized networks. Dorsey years may not be the most concentrated, but they are unforgettable.

Peter Kafka contributed reporting for this article.



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