Jack Dorsey, the co-founder and CEO of Twitter, has resigned from his role as CEO, effective immediately.

This is the second time Dorsey is stepping down from this role, having served as CEO once before. He will, however, remain a member of Twitter's board until the end of his term, around May 2022. After that, he will leave for good.

Let's examine why Dorsey resigned and look ahead to what the future holds for Twitter.

Why Is Dorsey Stepping Down Again and Why Now?

Dorsey has always been keen to spread his interests widely rather than give his entire life to Twitter. For example, he planned to move to Africa in 2020 but the COVID-19 pandemic put a stop to that.

In his resignation email, Dorsey says that Twitter should be free from the grip of its founders, including himself. Now, he believes, is the right time to let go. However, there are other reasons too.

Some shareholders have pushed for Dorsey's replacement in the past. Earlier in 2021, the Ellen F. Greenberg Trust filed a lawsuit asking the court to order Dorsey to either devote himself full-time to his position as CEO of Twitter, or resign. This was a reasonable demand. Despite Twitter's massive impact on social media, it has been unable to declare profits consistently or grow rapidly like competitors Facebook, Snapchat, or TikTok.

Related: How to Use Twitter's Tips Feature to Pay People for Tweets

Congress, Twitter users, politicians, and activists have also accused Dorsey of negligence and bias. Dorsey approved the removal of former US President Donald Trump from the platform after the January 6, 2021, insurrection. Facebook, Google, Apple, and basically all of big tech quickly followed suit. Still, all the pressure has taken a visible toll on Dorsey.

Finally, Dorsey has a Bitcoin obsession. His Twitter bio is simply "#Bitcoin". Over the last few years, Dorsey has devoted increasing amounts of resources and time to Bitcoin. Now that he has left Twitter, he will have more opportunities to pursue Bitcoin initiatives with his other business, the fintech company Square.

What's Next for Twitter?

sign board written future with arrow pointing

Parag Agrawal, Twitter's Chief Technology Officer, has taken over as CEO. Bret Taylor, Salesforce President and COO, becomes the chairman of the board. They'll be at the helm of Twitter.

Twitter has aggressive goals. It aims to double monetizable daily active users (mDAU) to 315 million by the end of 2023 and to double annual revenue in that year to $7.5 Billion or more, as per this SEC filing.

Twitter is also experimenting with additional features, such as donations and currency for tweets. It recently launched Twitter Spaces, which is like Clubhouse’s live-audio platform. Twitter is also exploring enabling Bitcoin tips for Twitter creators and the decentralizing of social media through its Bluesky project.

Related: Twitter Spaces vs. Clubhouse: Which Platform Is Better?

However, it remains to be seen whether Twitter will see these innovations through. It has experimented with new ideas in the past only to abandon them.

For example, Twitter tried short videos with Vine and live videos with Periscope, but canceled them. This was clearly a disastrous decision, as TikTok has since proven Twitter was on the right track.

New Leadership, Same Old Problems?

Dorsey's 2015 return had stabilized the troubled company, allowing it to make a profit in 2018 and 2019 after years of losses. However, it went back to loss-making ways in 2020. One of Agrawal's main challenges will be to reverse this.

Will Jack Dorsey's departure see Twitter soar to new heights under Agrawal's leadership? Or was Dorsey the restraining force that kept Twitter from becoming a profit-driven, even more toxic social media space? The world will soon find out.