Twitter verifies a new CEO
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 2 December 2021
⏱️ ? minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What Jack Dorsey’s departure from Twitter means for Silicon Valley, the platform and its dedicated users. And how the new CEO, Parag Agrawal, could change the direction of the company.
Read more:
In a casually written tweet Monday, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced that he would be stepping down from his position. As the company’s co-founder, he’s been a Silicon Valley icon for 15 years, and he leaves behind a complicated legacy. Tech reporter Will Oremus says that his departure is shrouded in mystery and that the resignation letter he posted to Twitter did not explain whether he was voluntarily leaving the company or was ousted by investors.
Dorsey’s replacement is Parag Agrawal, the company’s former chief technology officer. While he’s well-liked by staff, he was an unexpected pick to head one of Silicon Valley’s most fraught and politically embroiled social media companies — and it’s up in the air whether his limited experience will limit his ability to navigate important and thorny questions around content moderation.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | So on Monday morning, seemingly out of the blue, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey posted a tweet, |
| 0:09.0 | lowercase casual, not sure anyone has heard, but I resigned from Twitter. |
| 0:17.4 | Will Arimus covers tech for the post. |
| 0:20.1 | Any posted a screenshot of a memo that he had sent out to the whole company at just that |
| 0:24.0 | moment, announcing his resignation, announcing that a virtual unknown outside of Twitter |
| 0:29.9 | named Parag Agrawal would be taking over and it would be effective immediately. |
| 0:34.9 | All of this on what was supposed to be a day of rest for Twitter's employees. |
| 0:38.4 | They all had the day off. |
| 0:42.6 | From the newsroom of Washington Post, this is Post Reports. |
| 0:46.2 | I'm Jordan Murray Smith, in from our teen powers. |
| 0:49.6 | It's Thursday, December 2nd. |
| 0:55.0 | Today, why Twitter, CEO, step down seemingly out of nowhere and how this sudden departure |
| 1:00.8 | might affect stakeholders and passionate users like me. |
| 1:11.4 | Even if you're not on Twitter, what happens on the social media platform matters so much. |
| 1:16.6 | For politics, for culture, I mean, our former president used to announce policy on the |
| 1:22.2 | site. |
| 1:23.2 | I'm dropping the bombshell on Twitter, saying about his national security advisor. |
| 1:27.3 | I informed John Bolton last night that his services are no longer needed at the White |
| 1:31.6 | House. |
| 1:32.6 | We're going to talk about the new CEO and why he's a somewhat surprising choice. |
| 1:37.6 | But first, let's talk about the old CEO, Jack Dorsey, because there's still some mystery |
| 1:44.4 | about why he stepped down in the first place. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Washington Post, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Washington Post and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.