Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey resigns

Jack Dorsey has confirmed that he will be resigning as Twitter’s chief executive after a share price spike followed reports of the move.

He said in a statement: “I’ve decided to leave Twitter because I believe the company is ready to move on from its founders.”

Parag Agrawal has been announced as the new CEO and a member of the board, with immediate effect.

Shares in the social media platform rose 9% on market opening on Monday morning following a report that Mr Dorsey, 45, who co-founded Twitter in 2006, was to leave his role.

He will remain the chief executive of financial payments company Square, which has a market capitalisation of over $98bn (£73bn) compared to Twitter’s $38bn (£28bn).

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I resigned from Twitter pic.twitter.com/G5tUkSSxkl

Mr Dorsey faced ousting last year when Twitter stakeholder Paul Singer, the found of Elliott Management, publicly questioned his ability to run both companies at the same time.

The investment firm eventually reached a deal with Twitter’s management.

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Twitter’s shares rose 9% on market opening following the news that Mr Dorsey would step down

CNBC said that trading was now halted due to news pending.

In his most recent tweet, the CEO declared his love for the microblogging platform.

It is a business he has repeatedly had to defend before Congressional committees, including relating to the company’s controversial decision to ban Donald Trump in relation to comments he made regarding the 2020 US presidential election.

Earlier this year Mr Trump asked a federal judge to force Twitter to restore his account, which was shut down after his supporters attacked the US Capitol in January.

By Ian King, Sky News business presenter

It is no surprise to see Jack Dorsey stepping down as chief executive of Twitter.

There has been disquiet for some time among shareholders at Mr Dorsey serving in that role and also at Square, the fintech payments company he co-founded, with Paul Singer – the head of the influential activist investor Elliott Management – having called in the recent past for him to step down at Twitter.

Mr Dorsey made peace with Mr Singer on that occasion by giving Elliott and its ally, the private equity firm Silver lake, seats on the Twitter board.

But ultimately the arrangement was unsustainable and given the comparative size of the two businesses, with Square valued at $97billion and Twitter at just $37billion, it was obvious which one he would opt for if made to choose between the two.

Moreover, Square is becoming an infinitely more demanding business to manage, with Mr Dorsey recently announcing plans for the company to look into running an open-source Bitcoin mining system.

Something had to give and just about the only significant obstacle to Mr Dorsey stepping down at Twitter was the need to find his successor.

It seems that hurdle has now been cleared.

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