Jack Dorsey Steps Down From Twitter, Will Focus On Square

Twitter founder Jack Dorsey stepped down as CEO of Twitter on Monday morning. He said he’s ready to let go as Twitter was “ready to move on from its founders.”

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Jack Dorsey To Focus On Square and Crypto

Quitting his CEO job gives Jack Dorsey time to focus on his other company, Square. Dorsey will also work on his growing fascination with cryptocurrency, being a long-time follower of bitcoin.

He attributed the passion for bitcoin to the fact that it remains uncontrolled or uninfluenced by any individual. 

During the Bitcoin 2021 conference last June in Miami, Dorsey said he’d be nowhere else if he wasn’t working on his companies. “If I were not at Square or Twitter, I’d be working on bitcoin,” Dorsey declared. 

Parag Agrawal Replaces Jack Dorsey as Twitter CEO

Parag Agrawal, a board member, and former chief technology officer will replace Jack Dorsey as Twitter CEO. Dorsey himself will remain a member of the board, at least until his term expires in 2022.

In a statement, the Twitter founder gave his reasons as well as his confidence for his successor. “I've decided to leave Twitter because I believe the company is ready to move on from its founders.

My trust in Parag as Twitter's CEO is deep. His work over the past 10 years has been transformational. I'm deeply grateful for his skill, heart, and soul. It's his time to lead.”

In addition, Dorsey also warned about the dangers of letting the company founder stay too long. “There’s a lot of talk about the importance of a company being ‘founder-led.

Ultimately I believe that’s severely limiting and a single point of failure,” he said. “And there aren't many founders that choose their company over their own ego.

I know we'll prove this was the right move,” he added. Right now, Twitter boasts 192 million monetizable daily active users. The company also earned $3.7 billion in revenue last year.

Dorsey To Focus On Square and Cryptocurrency

Dorsey will focus on his payments company, Square, which intensified its crypto-focused projects this year. With Jack freed from his Twitter responsibilities, many are awaiting what crypto projects Square will undertake. As of September 30, Square’s bitcoin investment is worth around $351.7 million.

Square started bitcoin trading in 2018. It's cash app allowed users to buy and sell bitcoin. By 2019, the company started Square Crypto.

This is an independent team dedicated to helping with open-source work. Square also launched the Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA), a non-profit organization.

COPY aims at pooling patents to encourage crypto innovation. In fact, Dorsey said in October that Square might join the bitcoin mining business.

The payments company is also building its own hardware wallet to “make bitcoin custody more mainstream.”

Stepping Down Was His Own Decision

Despite word that Dorsey plans to focus on Square and crypto, he did not mention his other company or investor pressure for him to step down.

“I want you all to know that this was my decision and I own it. It was a tough one for me, of course. I love this service and company,” Dorsey said. In fact, investment firm Elliott Management launched a campaign to remove Dorsey as CEO last year.

The decision ends Dorsey’s five-year run as Twitter CEO for the second time. He personally oversaw Twitter stock to rise as user numbers grew.

However, news of Twitter’s change of leadership brought stocks down by 2.74% during yesterday’s trading session. 

Watch the Bloomberg Technology video reporting that CEO Jack Dorsey Is leaving Twitter:

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