The longtime head of technology has been on Twitter for ten years.
(Photo: dpa)
Dusseldorf Following the hasty departure of Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, a company veteran takes over as CEO. The previous head of technology, Parag Agrawal, has been responsible for the Group’s most important issues over the past few years, such as the focus on machine learning and artificial intelligence and, most recently, the plans for a decentralized network.
Nevertheless, Agrawal is likely to face his greatest challenge, because the pressure on the new CEO is immense.
Agrawal has to achieve ambitious goals that ex-Twitter boss Dorsey had set. At the beginning of the year, the company set the goal of doubling sales within three years and increasing the number of users from almost 200 million to 315 million.
With Agrawal, a profound expert on the company takes over the management. The 37-year-old has been with the company for a decade. This makes him one of the longest-serving employees in the 15-year-old tech group.
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In an email to his Twitter college on Monday, shortly after his appointment as CEO, Agrawal wrote, “I joined this company 10 years ago when there were fewer than 1,000 employees.”
Well equipped for future challenges
He has experienced many ups and downs in the group. Now the company is well equipped for the future challenge. “We recently revised our strategy and defined ambitious goals. I think this strategy is brave and just right, ”wrote Agrawal.
45-year-old Dorsey praised Agrawal in his farewell email to the Twitter workforce. “He has been my choice for a while as he knows the company and its needs very well,” Dorsey wrote. Agrawal was unanimously appointed CEO by the Supervisory Board. Dorsey announced that he would go to the board of directors for a transitional period to support Agrawal with his induction. Dorsey announced that he would resign from the committee in the coming year.
Born in India, Agrawal earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai. Between 2005 and 2012 he received his PhD in computer science from the renowned Stanford University. During this time he worked for the US network operator AT&T and the tech companies Yahoo and Microsoft. In 2011 he joined Twitter as a programmer. Six years later, he was promoted to the position of chief technology officer of the group.
Former work colleagues said they were very positive about Agrawal. “Parag is phenomenal, he understands the problems, stays up late into the night to do the job. In addition, he is a good mentor for others,” said ex-Twitter programmer Timothy Chklovski to the US broadcaster CNBC.
Former high-ranking Twitter manager Kevin Weil praised Agrawal: “He’s been with the company since the beginning, from developing much of Twitter’s early ad platform to ranking the Twitter timeline and more,” said Weil. “These are all technical projects, but they also affect the soul of the product.”
Great contrast to the extravagant Dorsey
Even if Agrawal is considered a close confidante of ex-CEO Dorsey, the two managers differ significantly in their demeanor. Dorsey was always noticed by an extravagant lifestyle. Agrawal has so far remained in the background.
In one of the few publicly available videos from Agrawal, the manager presented a project at a Google conference in 2018. He rowed his arms uncertainly while quickly presenting technical details to the audience. His technical expertise is undisputed. In front of the public, however, he seems rather shy.
In the future, Agrawal will not only present Twitter to a large audience, but will also have to defend the leadership of the group from investors. Hedge fund and Twitter shareholder Elliott had been criticizing Dorsey’s style for months.
Elliott founder Paul Singer had publicly exchanged blows with Dorsey several times. Agrawal now has to show whether he can get along better with the major investor.
Twitter shares rank below the value at the beginning of the week
On the stock exchange, Agrawal’s election as CEO was sobered up. After the first rumors of Dorsey’s resignation, Twitter shares initially shot up by more than ten percent.
When Twitter then announced Agrawal as its successor, the share fell significantly again. On Tuesday, the share was meanwhile more than three percent below the level at the beginning of the week.
When it comes to key company metrics, Twitter is in a solid position. Revenues rose 37 percent to $ 1.28 billion in the third quarter compared to the same period last year. The number of registered regular users rose by 13 percent to 211 million in the same period.
However, Twitter had to post a loss of $ 537 million for the past quarter. It is compared to a profit of $ 29 million in the year-ago quarter. The main reason for the large loss was a payment of $ 766 million from Twitter to its investors. In 2014, the group is said to have misled its investors with exaggerated forecasts. The short message service emphasized that the payment was not an admission of guilt.
More: Twitter boss Jack Dorsey resigns.