Twitter CEO Dick Costolo Steps Down, Billionaire Co-Founder Jack Dorsey Takes Over

Twitter announced today that CEO Dick Costolo will be stepping down at the beginning of July and that Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey will be back to assume the role of interim CEO.

In 2008, Dorsey was booted as Twitter’s CEO (which was filled by fellow co-founder Evan Williams) before going on to co-found Square. Twitter has experienced a less than stellar year resulting in months of criticism from shareholders over Costolo’s failure to meet profitability targets.

Graph via YCharts

At the end of last month, after Twitter’s stock plunged, Costolo was asked at Re/Code’s Code Conference by host Kara Swisher, “Are you going to have your job by the end of the year?”

Costolo replied:

“The board and I are totally in sync about what we need to do — we have a very clear strategy that we’ve articulated and that we’re following. I don’t worry about whether I’ll be there at the end of the year.”

While Costolo’s departure may seem the result of Twitter’s poor performance, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey spoke otherwise. In a conference call on Thursday, Dorsey played down the reason for Costolo’s resignation, according to Re/Code:

“One thing I do want to make clear is that this transition is not the result of anything more than Dick deciding to move on from his role as CEO. There is no connection with our near term results.”

The announcement of Costolo’s stepping down was initially set at 10 a.m. Pacific time but later bumped to 1 p.m. after the markets closed. Following the announcement in after-hours trading, Twitter’s stock shot up 8% before settling back down.

By voluntarily stepping down, Costolo forfeits any severance package as well as unvested stock options.

In a statement announcing his resignation, Costolo said:

“I am tremendously proud of the Twitter team and all that the team has accomplished together during my six years.”

Source: CNNMoney

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