Twitter appoints co-founder as new CEO

This meant that Mr. Dorsey, who is also the CEO of the mobile payment company, Square, would be ineligible.

Jack Dorsey, Twitter‘s co-founder and interim CEO, became the social media company’s permanent leader Monday, ending a tumultuous three-month search. Former CEO Dick Costolo resigned from the board last Wednesday, the company said.

Twitter on Monday said its co-founder and Chairman Jack Dorsey will continue as the chief executive at the microblogging site. He continues to see big challenges for Twitter, and questions how a non-full time CEO would bring a turnaround, amid the current challenging environment. Dorsey, meanwhile, “is very much the opposite, and those who have worked with him say he can be ruthless if you disagree with his vision”. The new CEO is also giving up the title of chairman, but will remain on the board of directors. However, there is no indication that he will step down at Square at this time, even with the company’s upcoming IPO.

A few investors had expressed concerns about whether Dorsey could run both Twitter and Square, which is expected to go public later this year.

In the 13 weeks he served as interim CEO, Dorsey had already made several strategic decisions on the company’s direction. “In the past 3 months, we have increased our speed and urgency at both companies”.

In a Tweet, Dorsey said they were “working to change the composition of the board”.

At the same time, pressure to fill the position mounted, high-level executives departed and support for Dorsey grew.

Adam Bain, previously Twitter’s president and head of revenue and once considered a favourite for the top job, was named chief operating officer. “And we’re strengthening our team along the way”.

Although Twitter is among the world’s best known technology companies, it still hasn’t posted a profit and its user growth has been slowing. Twitter’s stock rose more than five percent on the announcement. That included making management changes to the company’s product team and a new initiative exploring how to extend Twitter’s messaging beyond 140 characters.