Tweet This: Twitter CEO Steps Down
Twitter co-founder Evan Williams has resigned as CEO of the company. Dick Costolo, who was serving as chief operating officer, has taken over effective immediately. In a blog post, Williams hinted at the myriad challenges involved in a fast-growing organization:
"Growing big is not success, in itself. Success to us means meeting our potential as a profitable company that can retain its culture and user focus while having a positive impact on the world. This is no small task. I frequently reflect on the type of focus that is required from everyone at Twitter to get us there."
This led to a realization as we launched the new Twitter. I am most satisfied while pushing product direction. Building things is my passion, and I've never been more excited or optimistic about what we have to build.This is why I have decided to ask our COO, Dick Costolo, to become Twitter's CEO. Starting today, I'll be completely focused on product strategy"
Costolo increasingly has assumed a more prominent profile representing Twitter. It was his job to explain the company's business strategy at its Chirp developer conference earlier this summer -
In an interview with TechCrunch, Williams said Facebook was heading into "a new phase" with the employee count reaching 300.
"I've always thought of myself as more of a product guy," Williams told TechCrunch.
Costolo's appointment as CEO is sure to trigger renewed speculation about the timing of a Facebook initial public offering of stock. But he was quoted by the Associated Press saying that an "IPO really is not anything we talk about. We have no timetable for it."
Costolo and Williams met after they sold their respective startups to Google. Williams sold his blogging service called Blogger in 2003 while Williams sold the online advertising tool Feedburner to Google four years later. As fate would have it, Google is often mentioned as a possible Twitter buyer.