Jack Dorsey is expected to step down as CEO of Twitter after leading the Big Tech company since its inception. Twitter stock jumped 11% as the news broke.
Dorsey, one of the co-founders of Twitter with Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams, has served as CEO since 2006, and has been the public face of the company through many controversies. However, according to sources who have spoken to CNBC’s David Faber, Dorsey’s time as the head of Twitter is now coming to an end.
Elliott Management, the investment firm with a stake in Twitter, reportedly sought to remove Dorsey from his position in 2020, although a deal was reached with Twitter’s management to keep him as CEO. It is unclear why Dorsey may be set to leave the company now. Bloomberg noted that Dorsey, who is also CEO of payment company Square, “has been taking an increasing interest in cryptocurrencies recently.”
After CNBC reported the news of Dorsey’s upcoming resignation, shares of TWTR jumped to about 11% pre-market, going from $47.02 on Friday to $51.88 as the market opened. Trading of Twitter’s stock has now been frozen.
#BREAKING Nasdaq suspends trading in Twitter amid report CEO stepping down pic.twitter.com/SfiWl1CVlk
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) November 29, 2021
Earlier this year, Dorsey was caught on camera telling employees that following his platform’s removal of President Trump in January, the Big Tech company would continue to increase their crackdown on conservatives and other dissident speech. He concluded by declaring that “our role is to protect the integrity of that conversation, and do what we can to make sure that no one is being harmed based off that.”
While Dorsey claims that his platform’s top priority is focusing on the threat of “real-world violence,” in actuality he has donated $11 million to the Bail Project, whose employees were caught on video handing out supplies to violent Black Lives Matter rioters in Louisville, Kentucky in September last year.
Twitter did not respond to a press inquiry from National File before the time of publication. This article will be updated if any comment is provided.