Jack Dorsey, the co-founder and outgoing CEO of the social media company, threw in the towel earlier this week and said he would be replaced by Parag Agrawal. He only said that he believed it was time for the company to move beyond its founders. CNBC leaked the news of Dorsey's exit before the company confirmed it.
Despite the high-profile departure, relatively little is known about the 10-year veteran taking over the reins. Here are seven things we know about Parag.
1. I moved from Bombay to Palo Alto before landing on the social media site.
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The new CEO received a degree in computer science and engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology. Between 2005 and 2012 he completed a PhD in philosophy and computer science at the university.
2. Is not very familiar with big tech companies.
After joining Microsoft in 2006 for a four-month research role, he moved on to research positions at Yahoo and AT&T. After Dorsey was removed from the top position in 2008, Agrawal first arrived at the micro-blogging site.
3. Over the last decade, Agrawal rose through the ranks of the micro-messaging service.
According to reports, when he started at the company, he worked on a project to increase the relevance of users'tweets on their timelines and audience growth. He received the title of distinguished engineer for his impact on audience growth. After seven years at the company, Agrawal was named the company's chief technology officer.
4. The use of artificial intelligence was accelerated by the company.
A spokesman for the company previously told CNBC that the CTO focused on scaling a cohesive machine learning and artificial intelligence approach across the team. The Atlantic's CEO, Nicholas Thompson, was in attendance and spoke about the efforts of the social network to use artificial intelligence to detect bot accounts and label potentially harmful content.
5. Is interested in a centralized approach to social media.
Bluesky is a project funded by the social media giant, which is intended to create a social media standard. Jay Graber, the project's first leader, was named earlier this year. Bluesky is the standard for the public conversation layer of the internet.
6. "He has been behind every critical decision that helped turn it around."
In his resignation letter, Dorsey said that he had been his personal pick to lead the position for some time. "My trust inAgrawal is deep, as our CEO is bone deep," said Dorsey.
The Wall Street Journal reported that a former employee of the micro-blogging site described Agrawal as a close friend of Dorsey.
7. The face may be pushed back from the right.
Just hours after being named CEO, some critics pointed to his previous statement on the response to handling misinformation as evidence of censorship against conservatives. Critics pointed to a 2020 interview with the MIT Technology Review in which he said that the role of the company is not to be bound by the First Amendment, but to serve a healthy public conversation.
