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Jack Dorsey

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Jack Dorsey
Born
Jack Patrick Dorsey

(1976-11-19) November 19, 1976 (age 49)
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
OccupationEntrepreneur
Years active2000–present
Known forCo-founder and former CEO of Twitter; co-founder and CEO of Block, Inc.

Jack Patrick Dorsey (born November 19, 1976) is an American entrepreneur known for co-founding Twitter, Inc., where he served as CEO during 2007–2008 and again from 2015 to 2021. He is also the co-founder, chief executive officer, and chairman of Block, Inc., the company behind the Square platform. Additionally, he established Bluesky.

By May 2025, Forbes valued his net worth at approximately $3.8 billion.

Early life

Dorsey was born and grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. His father, Timothy G. Dorsey, was employed at a firm specializing in the development of mass spectrometers, while his mother, Marcia A. Dorsey (née Smith), was a homemaker. He has partial Italian heritage through his mother and was brought up in the Catholic faith.

He attended Bishop DuBourg High School and briefly pursued modeling in the fashion industry. By age 14, he had developed an interest in dispatch routing. In 1995, he enrolled at the University of Missouri–Rolla, where he studied for over two years before transferring to New York University in 1997; however, he left one semester shy of graduating. It was during his time at NYU that he originated the concept that would later become Twitter.

After relocating to California, Dorsey launched a company in Oakland in 2000 aimed at web-based dispatching services for couriers, taxis, and emergency responders. His ventures included creating networks for medical devices and developing a "frictionless service market." Drawing inspiration from dispatching systems and platforms such as LiveJournal and AOL Instant Messenger, he envisioned a real-time status update or short messaging service accessible via the Web.

Seeing the opportunity for instant messaging status updates shared among friends, Dorsey partnered with Odeo, which was exploring text messaging technologies at the time. Together with Biz Stone, he created a prototype for Twitter within roughly two weeks. This idea quickly gained traction among Odeo users and attracted investment from co-founder Evan Williams, who had previously sold Pyra Labs and Blogger to Google.

Twitter

Noah Glass, Evan Williams, and Biz Stone founded Odeo, which was later rebranded as Obvious Corporation; this entity subsequently spun off Twitter, Inc. At Twitter’s inception in 2007, Dorsey took on the role of CEO.[1][2][3] He guided the company through two rounds of venture capital funding.[3] As Twitter expanded, Dorsey focused on enhancing system reliability rather than immediate monetization since the platform was not initially designed to generate revenue.[4] He recognized commercial applications of Twitter and its API as future revenue sources while emphasizing simplicity, limitations, and quality craftsmanship as foundational values.[5]

In 2008, Dorsey was replaced as CEO amid reports attributing this change to his focus on personal pursuits like yoga and fashion design.[6] On October 16 of that year,[7] Evan Williams assumed the CEO position while Dorsey transitioned to chairman.[8] During this timeframe, Dorsey took part in U.S. State Department delegations to Iraq and Russia and postponed planned Twitter maintenance during the 2009 Iranian Green Revolution to facilitate communication efforts there.[9][10]

Dorsey returned as executive chairman in March 2011 after Dick Costolo replaced Williams as CEO.[11] In July 2015, following Costolo’s resignation, Dorsey stepped in as interim CEO before being appointed permanent CEO in October.[12][13]

In May 2016, he announced that images and links would no longer count against Twitter's original 140-character limit to stimulate user engagement amid declining tweet activity.[14] On November 22 of the same year, his personal account experienced a brief suspension caused by an "internal error".[15] That year also introduced recommendation algorithms into users’ main feed.[16]

Reflecting later on these developments, Dorsey acknowledged that creating tools for managing public discourse inadvertently centralized control rather than empowering individual users.[17]

In February 2017, together with Executive Chairman Omid Kordestani, Dorsey matched $530,000 raised by employees for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), resulting in a total contribution of $1.59 million.[18]

In March 2018, he unveiled intentions to reform Twitter’s verification process to enable wider identity confirmation; however, this initiative was not implemented prior to the U.S. midterm elections.[19]

Dorsey appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee in September 2018 to discuss social media’s involvement in election interference; following his testimony, Twitter’s stock value declined by six percent.[20]

In April 2019, he met with President Donald Trump to address concerns about alleged conservative shadow banning on Twitter; during this meeting he highlighted efforts aimed at fostering a "healthier and more civil" platform environment.[21] Earlier that month at a TED talk, he discussed challenges related to harassment and misinformation on Twitter.[22]

On August 30, 2019, his personal Twitter account was compromised by a hacker group named Chuckling Squad for nearly one hour.[23][24]

Following a Q3 earnings shortfall attributed to issues with ad targeting alongside a drop in political advertising revenue after globally banning political ads from November 22, 2019,[25] Twitter’s share price fell nearly 21 percent on October 23.[26]

At the start of 2020, activist hedge fund Elliott Management sought seats on Twitter’s board alongside leadership changes but ultimately agreed to retain Dorsey as CEO following negotiations.[27][28]

In October of that year, the US Senate Commerce Committee subpoenaed him along with other technology CEOs concerning Section 230 legal protections.[29]

Dorsey stepped down as Twitter CEO on November 29, 2021; former CTO Parag Agrawal succeeded him. He continued serving as CEO of Block, Inc..[30][31] He departed from Twitter’s board in May 2022.[32]

During Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter in October 2022, Dorsey maintained his approximate ownership stake of 2.4% in the company.[33]

Block

In May 2010, Jack Dorsey and co-founder Jim McKelvey introduced Square, a mobile solution designed to help small businesses process debit and credit card payments through a compact card reader compatible with Android, iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch devices. This platform enables card swiping, setting payment amounts, and transaction confirmation via digital signatures. Additionally, it offers the option to send electronic receipts through text messages or email and is accessible as a free application on both Android and iOS. The company experienced rapid growth, expanding its workforce from 10 employees in late 2009 to over 100 by mid-2011, with its main office located on Market Street in San Francisco. By September 2012, Business Insider estimated Square's valuation at US$3.2 billion. Dorsey holds the position of CEO.

Square filed for an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange on October 14, 2015, at which point Dorsey owned 24.4 percent of the company. In March 2020, the FDIC granted approval for Square to establish a bank, leading to the creation of Square Financial Services in 2021.

In May 2020, Dorsey announced a permanent shift to remote work for Square employees. That same year, the company faced scrutiny over retaining up to 30 percent of funds collected via its Cash App from merchants.

On December 1, 2021, CEO Jack Dorsey rebranded Square as Block, Inc., reflecting his enthusiasm for blockchain technology and the company's expansion beyond merchant payment services. Despite the name change, the stock ticker remained "SQ".

Bluesky

In February 2022, Dorsey became a board member of Bluesky, a project spun off from Twitter focused on creating a decentralized social networking protocol and application. By May 2024, he announced his resignation from the board, endorsing X as "freedom technology." During a 2024 interview, Dorsey explained his departure by citing Bluesky's move toward conventional corporate governance and centralized moderation mechanisms.

Digital currency

Dorsey is frequently mentioned among those speculated to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin.

Other projects

In 2013, Dorsey expressed respect for Michael Bloomberg and revealed ambitions to become mayor of New York City. He also participated as a judge in Bloomberg's NYC BigApps competition in 2011.

On December 24, 2013, Dorsey joined the board of directors at The Walt Disney Company. He chose not to run for reelection in 2018 due to potential conflicts of interest.

He serves on the board of the Berggruen Institute's Governance Center and has provided insights featured in Tim Ferriss' Tools of Titans.

A prominent supporter of Bitcoin, Dorsey has delivered keynote speeches at major Bitcoin events such as "The B Word" and has stated that if he were not leading Twitter and Square, his focus would be entirely on Bitcoin. He has backed and financed the development of the Nostr social networking protocol.

In 2023, Dorsey contributed seed capital to OCEAN, a Bitcoin mining pool dedicated to decentralizing mining operations by allowing miners to choose or create their own block templates, thereby reducing dependence on centralized entities.

In 2025, he launched Bitchat, a peer-to-peer messaging application utilizing Bluetooth mesh networking technology to enable communication between users without internet connectivity.

Personal life

In 2012, Dorsey relocated to San Francisco's Sea Cliff neighborhood.

Meditation

Starting in 2015, Dorsey incorporated meditation into his morning routine. Toward the end of 2017, he underwent a ten-day Vipassanā meditation course led by disciples of S. N. Goenka. For his birthday in November 2018, he traveled to Myanmar to participate in a Vipassanā meditation retreat.

Politics

During 2019, Dorsey provided financial backing to Democratic presidential hopefuls Tulsi Gabbard and Andrew Yang for the 2020 election. In 2020, he contributed $15 million to support guaranteed basic income initiatives led by 29 U.S. mayors.

Up until 2021, Dorsey allowed certain exemptions for "world leaders," enabling President Donald Trump to post tweets that would typically breach Twitter's policies. Starting in May 2020, some of Trump's tweets were flagged with warning labels; following the November 2020 election, the frequency of these warnings increased. After the Capitol riot on January 6, Twitter permanently suspended Trump's account on January 8, 2021. While Dorsey justified the suspension, he acknowledged it "sets a precedent I feel is dangerous." In November 2022, after Elon Musk took ownership of Twitter, Trump's account was restored.

In June 2023, Dorsey publicly endorsed Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2024.

In 2024, Dorsey expressed support on Twitter for protests opposing the wars in Gaza, Vietnam, and Iraq within the United States.

Philanthropic and other donations

In March 2016, Dorsey fully financed roughly 600 public school projects across Missouri registered on DonorsChoose.

In October 2019, he contributed $350,000 to #TeamTrees, a nonprofit organization aiming to plant twenty million trees by the close of that year.

On April 7, 2020, Dorsey pledged nearly $1 billion worth of his Square shares—approximately one-third of his net worth—towards Start Small, LLC and COVID-19 relief efforts. His philanthropic focus included pandemic aid, education and health initiatives for girls, and universal basic income. To date, he has allocated $24 million across more than 40 organizations dedicated to pandemic relief.

In August 2020, Dorsey donated $10 million to Boston University's Center for Antiracist Research, established by Ibram X. Kendi.

During May 2021, he provided $15 million to assist relief during India's second wave of COVID-19, distributing funds among Care International ($10 million), Aid India ($2.5 million), and Sewa International ($2.5 million).

Awards and recognition

  • In 2008, he was recognized in the MIT Technology Review TR35 as one of the top 35 innovators under age 35.
  • The Wall Street Journal named him "Innovator of the Year" in technology in 2012.
  • At the fifth annual Crunchies Awards hosted by TechCrunch in 2012, he received the Founder of the Year honor.
  • In 2013, Forbes identified him as the most eligible billionaire bachelor worldwide.
  • In 2016, Fox Business ranked him as the fourth Worst CEO due to stagnant growth, declining stock prices, and his part-time involvement with Twitter.
  • The publication 24/7 Wall St. listed him among America's twenty Worst CEOs in 2017.

Additional resources

  • Max, D. T. (October 21, 2013). "Two-hit wonder." The New Yorker, 89(33), pp. 48–59.

Related links

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