Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey steps down as CEO

Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey is stepping down from his role and Chief Technology Officer Parag Agrawal will now lead the company, the social networking site announced on Monday (Nov. 29).

The appointment of Agrawal, a 10-year veteran of Twitter, signaled a tacit endorsement by the board of a strategy the company previously laid out to double its annual revenue by 2023, even if investors were not so sure.

The CEO change is effective immediately and Dorsey will remain on the board until his term expires at the 2022 annual shareholder meeting, the company said.

Twitter shares surged nearly 10% after the announcement and closed down 2.7%.

Dorsey, who co-founded Twitter in 2006, is leaving after overseeing the launch of new ways to create content through newsletters or audio conversations while simultaneously serving as CEO of his payments processing company Square Inc (SQ.N).

(With Reuters inputs)