Who Is Parag Agarwal As The New Twitter CEO To Replace Jack Dorsey, Jack Dorsey has stepped down as CEO of Twitter and handed the baton to the comparatively unknown govt Parag Agrawal.
Agrawal, who has been with the corporate for 10 years – most just lately as chief know-how officer – has emerged from behind the scenes to take over one among Silicon Valley’s highest-profile and politically risky jobs. But who’s he, and what can we anticipate for Twitter underneath his management?
A 37-year-old immigrant from India, Agrawal comes from outdoors the ranks of celeb CEOs, which embody the person he’s changing in addition to Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Tesla’s Elon Musk. But his lack of identify recognition, coupled with a strong technical background, seems to be what a few of Twitter’s largest backers have been in search of within the firm’s subsequent chapter.
Agrawal is a “‘safe’ pick who should be looked upon as favorably by investors”, wrote the CFRA Research analyst Angelo Zino, who famous that the Twitter shareholder Elliott Management had pressured Dorsey to step down.
That means we are able to anticipate extra of the identical underneath him when it comes to coverage and firm path, specialists say – together with plans to proceed Twitter’s latest technique to double its annual income by 2023 and give attention to its long-term ambition to rebuild how social media firms function.
“We recently updated our strategy to hit ambitious goals, and I believe that strategy to be bold and right,” Agrawal stated in an e-mail to staff. “But our critical challenge is how we work to execute against it and deliver results.”
The firm presently faces a number of challenges, together with gradual progress in its person base as rivals like TikTookay and Instagram lure away youthful demographics, in addition to persevering with struggles with misinformation and hate speech.
Agrawal is anticipated largely to choose up the place Dorsey left off, persevering with to battle for customers being lured away by rivals like TikTookay and Instagram, stated Jill Wilson, the chief advertising and marketing officer for Esquire Digital.
“Agrawal has his work cut out for him in terms of keeping Twitter relevant and getting the everyday user on board, and monetizing the platform in general,” she stated.
Dorsey, who co-founded Twitter in 2006, steered the corporate via a high-profile hack and the controversial banning of Donald Trump, who examined the boundaries of the platform’s enforcement in opposition to hate speech and misinformation.
Those issues have continued past the Trump presidency, and Agrawal is getting into a job within the eye of the storm over moderation insurance policies on hate speech and misinformation, for which Dorsey has confronted criticism lately.
“The new CEO will need to work out how to stop his platform being a machine that is routinely and perpetually hijacked to distort the news agenda, produce fake popularity and influence, and provide a warped lens on the world,” stated Imran Ahmed, the CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate.
Dorsey had concurrently been serving as CEO of the social media platform and as CEO of his funds processing firm Square however will now focus totally on Square in addition to different pursuits equivalent to philanthropy, Reuters stories.
In an e-mail to staff on Monday, Dorsey stated he selected to step down as a result of power of Agrawal’s management, the naming of the Salesforce chief working officer, Bret Taylor, as the brand new chairman of the board and his confidence within the “ambition and potential” of Twitter’s staff.
“I’m really sad … yet really happy,” he wrote. “There aren’t many companies that get to this level,” including that his transfer to step down “was my decision and I own it”.
Over the previous yr, Twitter has fought to finish years-long criticism that it has been gradual to introduce new options for its 211 million day by day customers and was shedding floor to social media rivals.
Under Dorsey’s management, Twitter acquired the e-mail publication service Revue and launched Spaces, a function that lets customers host or hearken to stay audio conversations.
However, shares within the firm have slumped in latest months, including stress on Dorsey to finish his uncommon association of being CEO of two firms.
Agrawal has already had a quick introduction to life as CEO of a central platform for political speech.
Following the announcement on Monday, conservatives rapidly unearthed a tweet he despatched in 2010 that learn: “If they are not gonna make a distinction between muslims and extremists, then why should I distinguish between white people and racists.”
As some Twitter customers identified, the 11-year-old tweet was quoting a section on The Daily Show, which was referencing the firing of Juan Williams, who made a remark about being nervous about Muslims on an airplane.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Steps Down
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey has stepped down from his govt position on the social media firm.
Dorsey will likely be changed by chief know-how officer (CTO) Parag Agrawal, the corporate introduced on Monday.
The shock transfer ends Dorsey’s a lot criticized tenure as chief govt officer of each Twitter and Square, his digital funds firm, which led to Twitter stakeholders Elliott Management and billionaire investor Paul Singer calling on him to step down from a kind of roles.
Twitter’s shares rose 11% after the information broke on CNBC earlier than being briefly suspended.
The firm stated Dorsey would step down instantly however that Dorsey would stay on the board till Twitter’s stockholder assembly in 2022.
“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,” stated Dorsey.
Agrawal has been with Twitter for a decade and served as CTO since 2017.
“I want to thank the board for their confidence in my leadership and Jack for his continued mentorship, support and partnership,” stated Agrawal.
In his most up-to-date tweet on the location, posted Sunday, Dorsey wrote: “I love Twitter.”
In an e-mail to employees on Monday Dorsey wrote that after 16 years on the firm, it was time to go away. “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 wrote. “I’ve worked hard to ensure this company can break away from its founding and founders.”
Dorsey stated Agrawal was his most popular selection for CEO. “My trust in him as CEO is bone-deep,” he wrote. “I want you all to know this was my decision and I own it.”
Dorsey, 45, co-founded the microblogging website in 2006 and posted the world’s first tweet: “Just setting up my twttr.”
He co-founded Square in 2009 after being pushed out of the highest job at Twitter earlier than returning as chief govt of the social media firm in 2015.
Investors and a few employees have questioned Dorsey’s administration fashion and have anxious that he’s stretched too skinny by his roles at each firms. In 2019 he introduced plans to relocate to Africa for six months, a transfer that anxious each employees and traders. He scrapped the plan after the coronavirus pandemic struck.
Dorsey additionally set off a political firestorm following Twitter’s choice to ban former president Donald Trump from the platform. He later defended the transfer because the “right decision” however stated it additionally highlighted “a failure of ours, ultimately, to promote healthy conversation”.
His stakes in Twitter and Square have helped Dorsey amass a private fortune of over $12bn, in keeping with Forbes. In April Dorsey introduced he was giving $1bn to reduction applications associated to the coronavirus, “girls’ health and education”, and the research of common primary earnings (UBI) – monetary funds to folks.
