Written by Staff Writer
A new CEO is taking over the reins at Twitter — CEO Jack Dorsey.
The popular social media company on Thursday announced that Dorsey is stepping aside as CEO and stepping back to be more of a product guy, helping to make the 140-character microblogging platform better for users, and more of a tool for advertisers.
Jack Dorsey is stepping aside as Twitter CEO. Credit: Twitter via AP
Twitter co-founder Biz Stone will now be stepping in as interim CEO. Dorsey will still serve as CEO of the company he co-founded in 2006.
“Our Q1 financial results showed strong performance with growth in both MAUs and DAUs despite the global election year,” Dorsey said in a statement. “Our momentum has continued into Q2 and we plan to build on that by supporting all our stakeholders, especially the people who use our service every day.”
Twitter, which debuted on Wall Street in 2013, has weathered a storm of criticism and suffered in part due to President Donald Trump’s frequent anti-media tweets.
The company is one of the most widely-used social media sites in the world, with some 313 million users.
The stock got a boost earlier this year, rising above $30 for the first time since mid-2015, on the expectation that the new CEO would bring a fresh perspective to the company.
The last time Twitter had a real-time CEO was in April 2013, when Dick Costolo stepped aside to become the company’s chairman. Dorsey has since taken on the role of CEO while also serving as CEO of payment processing company Square.
— Jethro Mullen