Jack Dorsey, or @jack for short, just tweeted that he is back leading product at Twitter.
As the microblogging site’s original creator, Dorsey must have disappointed a few hardcore tweeters when he stepped down from his position as CEO in October 2008. At the time, the company and its board had decided it was best for then-Chief Product Officer Evan Williams to take on the role as CEO.
While Dorsey remained executive chairman of Twitter, he moved on, in a way, by founding a new company called Square, a mobile payments service for Android, iPad and iPhone. Square, with Dorsey as CEO, has all the trademarks of a service imagined by the guy who made Twitter: it’s simple, focused and elegant.
But many wondered whether Dorsey would ever return to have a hand in the original company he helped kickstart.
Twitter CEO Dick Costolo and Dorsey put those guesses to rest Monday morning, when both simultaneously tweeted that Dorsey would be returning to the company to lead product. He also confirmed that he will remain CEO at Square “forevermore.”
The only question I have is whether Evan Williams will retain his role as head of product strategy, which he took on after handing the CEO baton to Dick Costolo in October 2010. We’ve contacted Twitter and will update when we receive reply.
As an interesting side note, Dorsey isn’t the only one with a first day at Twitter today. The San Francisco company has 28 new employees starting work today for the first time, according to a tweet from designer Mark Otto. According to Otto, It’s unclear whether those 28 were included in Twitter’s count of 400 total employees from a couple weeks ago, but, either way you look at it, the startup is growing by leaps and bounds this year.
We’re eager to see the way in which Dorsey influences Twitter’s direction. I’m betting they’ll be positive.
