Who is Parag Agrawal? All about the IIT Bombay alumnus who takes charge as Twitter CEO

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has confirmed his resignation as CEO from the company, just an hour after reports about the same started surfacing. Ironically, Dorsey confirmed the authenticity of the reports by releasing a statement on the micro-blogging platform and said that the time has come for him to step down after 16 years of association with Twitter. Earlier, many speculations were made about the next CEO and Dorsey cleared the air around this via his statement. The 45-year-old revealed that Indian- born Parag Agarwal will be leading the company from now on. 

Parag Agarwal 'honoured and humbled' as he thanks Jack Dorsey

Expressing his gratitude, Parag issued a statement wherein he wrote, "Thank You Jack. I'm honoured and humbled. And I'm grateful for your continued mentorship and your friendship". Remembering his time in the company, Agarwal added, "The world is watching us right now, even more than they have before. Let's show the world Twitter's full potential".

Parag Agarwal was unanimously chosen as CEO 

According to Dorsey, the Twitter board ran a rigorous process and has unanimously chosen Parag as the next CEO. "He's been my choice for some time given how deeply he understands the company and its needs", said Dorsey in his statement. "Parag has been behind every critical decision that helped turn this company around. He's curious, probing, rational, creative, demanding, self-aware and Humble. He leads with heart and soul and is someone I learn from daily. My trust in him as CEO is bone-deep", he added. 

Agarwal's journey from IIT Bombay to Twitter

Agarwal, a former IIT Bombay student, had joined Twitter in 2011 and worked his way to becoming the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) by 2018. He is also an alumnus of Stanford University where he studied Computer Science and earned a PhD in Philosophy. Besides, the new Twitter CEO has also given his services to companies like Microsoft and AT&T.

Dorsey passes baton to Agarwal

Agarwal, who is associated with Twitter for a decade as the CTO, has been appointed as the leader starting today, although Dorsey will stay around till the power is transferred to Agarwal and Bret Taylor, the new board chair. According to CNBC, artificial intelligence and machine learning were the department Agarwal was handling in his early days.

It has been reported that plans to remove Dorsey as CEO were made in 2020 by Twitter stakeholder Elliott Management, however, a deal between the two prevented that from happening. As per CNBC, it was Elliott Management's founder Paul Singer who objected to Dorsey's control over two companies. Currently, the Twitter CEO is leading another digital payment company, Square along with the social media platform and Singer had demanded him to step down from either of the two.

Image: Twitter/@18soby