Jack Dorsey stepped down for the second time as chief executive of Twitter, the social media giant he founded 15 years ago.
Dorsey, 45, will be on the company's board of directors until May next year when he will leave the business altogether.
He was replaced as an engineer with immediate effect by Agrawal, who joined Twitter in 2011 and has been a chief technology officer for the past four years. Bret Taylor, who has sat on the board since 2016 will be the new chairman of the company, according to Twitter.
The stock was up more than 11 per cent at one point before trading was stopped ahead of the announcement.
The shares fell and closed down 2.8 per cent at $45.76, valuing Twitter at just less than $37 billion when trading resumed in New York. Dorsey's remaining stake in the company he founded is worth $890 million.
In a letter to Twitter s employees, Dorsey explained that it was his decision to move on after being forced out once in the company's early days back in 2008. He managed to step aside from calls from Elliott Management last year, despite the fact that he was a activist investor.
He said that the board had a rigorous process that considered all options and unanimously appointed Parag. He has been my choice for some time, because he understands the company and its needs. Dorsey wrote, after signing off the email to staff, "I m really sad yet really happy." There aren't many companies that get to this level. There aren't many founders who choose their company over their own ego. We'll prove that's the right move. Twitter is one of the most prominent social media companies with users including political and business leaders, sports and entertainment stars and influencers.
The platform gets most of its money from advertising and is criticised for not monitoring abuse and allowing it to spread disinformation and interfere in elections.
It was set up in 2006 by Dorsey who sent out the first tweet in March of that year, just setting up my twtr He was moved aside a couple of years later with Evan Williams, who helped the business in its early days, taking over. Williams is famously reported to have said that you can be a dressmaker or CEO of Twitter, in reference to Dorsey's interest in fashion design. Dorsey would return to the company in 2015 after having set up Square, the San Francisco-based payments platform.
According to Forbes, he has a net worth of $12 billion 9 billion, although he is known for his generous donations. A few years ago he gave away a third of his Twitter stock to employees and last year announced he would give Square shares worth about $1 billion, mainly to Covid-19 relief causes.