Indian-Origin Parag Agrawal Takes Charge As Twitter CEO After Dorsey Exits

Parag Agrawal has taken over the reins of social media giant Twitter as its new CEO after Jack Dorsey resigned from the post.

In an email to his colleagues at Twitter, the IIT Bombay graduate said: “Our purpose has never been more important.”

Noting that the US-based company recently updated its strategy to hit ambitious goals, he said: “I believe that strategy to be bold and right.”

Agrawal joined Twitter 10 years back as an engineer and was appointed the Chief Technology Officer in 2018.

With the appointment, Agrawal has joined the list of Indian-origin Silicon Valley CEOs along with Sundar Pichai (Google), Satya Nadella (Microsoft), Arvind Krishna (IBM) Adobe Shantanu Narayen (Adobe).

In his mail to his colleagues, the newly appointed CEO also said: “The world is watching us right now, even more than they have before. Lots of people are going to have lots of different views and opinions about today’s news. It is because they care about Twitter and our future, and it’s a signal that the work we do here matters. Let’s show the world Twitter’s full potential!”

The outgoing CEO Dorsey said that he will serve on the board till May next year.

He also informed that Bret Taylor would be the Chairman of the board of the company.

Highlighting reasons for stepping down, the Twitter Cofounder noted that there is 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. I’ve worked hard to ensure this company can break away from its founding and founders,” Dorsey wrote.

Exuding confidence in Agrawal, the cofounder said that the board ran a rigorous process considering all options and unanimously appointed Parag.

“He has been my choice for some time given how deeply he understands the company and its needs. Parag has been behind every critical decision that helped turn this company around.”

Dorsey also leads Square, a financial payments company founded by him and has invested in several startups, including Peek, an experience booking software and marketplace.