Beautiful Virgin Islands

Saturday, Feb 22, 2025

Jack Dorsey called founder-CEOs 'a single point of failure' - here are some other founder-CEOs

Jack Dorsey called founder-CEOs 'a single point of failure' - here are some other founder-CEOs

Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey cited the reasoning behind stepping down as being rooted in his belief that company founders serving as CEOs is “severely limiting” and represents a “single point of failure.” In light of his announcement, here are some other company founders currently serving as CEOs.

Twitter (TWTR) founder Jack Dorsey announced on Monday, Nov. 29, that he would be stepping down from his role as CEO after nearly 16 years at the company, with CTO Parag Agrawal filling his shoes. Dorsey will remain CEO of payments platform Square (SQ), a company which he also founded.

“Parag is CEO starting today [Nov. 29],” he said in an email with Twitter staff, which he also tweeted. “I’m going to serve on the board through my term (May-ish) to help Parag and Bret [Taylor] with the transition. And after that...I’ll leave the board.”

Dorsey cited the reasoning behind his decision as being rooted in his belief that company founders serving as CEOs is “severely limiting” and represents a “single point of failure.” In light of his announcement, here's a look at some other company founders currently serving as CEOs:

Mark Zuckerberg: Meta Platforms (FB)
Founder of Facebook.com Mark Zuckerberg, right, and Dustin Moscovitz, co-founder, left; have their photo taken at Harvard Yard. The two are students at Harvard University who are taking the semester off.


A prolific programmer from a young age, everyone is at least somewhat familiar with the story surrounding Mark Zuckerberg’s meteoric rise to prominence in both business and popular culture. Zuckerberg launched “Thefacebook,” originally located at thefacebook.com (which now redirects to Facebook), from his dorm room at Harvard during his sophomore year in January 2004. The launch was not without its obstacles, however, as he was accused of stealing the ideas behind Facebook from his fellow Harvard peers the Winklevoss twins and Divya Darendra, eventually leading to a settlement of 1.2 million shares in the company.

Following years of controversies surrounding privacy issues, misinformation, mental health, and child welfare, Facebook rebranded the company as Meta Platforms in late October in a major push towards the next frontier of the internet — metaverse.

Elon Musk: SpaceX and Tesla (TSLA)

Tech mogul Elon Musk is no stranger to the limelight — he was famously forced to step down as chairman of Tesla in September 2018 following a Twitter debacle in which he suggested that the company possessed both the funding and investor support to buy out stockholders at $420 a share. All of this resulted in a $40 million settlement with the SEC and his resignation as chairman (and ineligibility for reelection for three years for the position), but he was able to keep his job as CEO and remain on the company’s board. Since then, Tesla’s share value has skyrocketed to over $1,100 per share and the company continues to produce record sales and delivery numbers.

And although Musk did not found Tesla — that credit actually goes to two men by the names of Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning — he also famously serves as CEO of SpaceX, a private commercial spaceflight company that he founded himself in 2002, two years before he became the largest shareholder and chairman of Tesla in 2004. SpaceX stands amongst competitors Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic (SPCE), with its sights set on facilitating the first manned mission to Mars as early as 2024. SpaceX continues to build upon its close relationship with NASA in which the company has undertaken resupply and crewed missions.

Brian Chesky: Airbnb (ABNB)
Brian Chesky, CEO of Airbnb, is shown on an electronic screen at the Nasdaq MarketSite, Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020, in New York. The San Francisco-based online vacation rental company holds its IPO Thursday.


Brian Chesky cofounded Airbnb in 2008 along with fellow Rhode Island School of Design alum Joe Gebbia and Harvard graduate and technical architect Nathan Blecharczyk. Each founder assumed a different role within the company, with Chesky now serving as CEO, Blecharczyk as chief strategy officer and chairman of Airbnb China, and Gebbia as chair of Samara and Airbnb.org. Airbnb was created with the mission of creating a world “where anyone can belong anywhere,” and this is reflected in their logo which they call the “bélo” or the “universal symbol of belonging.”

Y Combinator accepted Airbnb into its seed funding program as part of its winter 2009 class, a cohort of fewer than 20 companies. Soon after, the company would begin rapidly expanding overseas and see tremendous growth in bookings. The company went public in December of 2020 with a valuation of just under $50 billion.


Evan Spiegel: Snap Inc. (SNAP)


Evan Spiegel first proposed the idea for Snapchat in a product design class in April of 2011. The platform was based upon the idea of “ephemeral messaging,” or communication through temporary messages using multimedia. Spiegel would further his work on the project with Stanford classmates Reggie Brown and Bobby Murphy, later producing a prototype for the app known as “Picaboo.” The trio renamed the platform as Snapchat and the app released on iOS in July 2011. It reached 1 million active daily users by the end of 2012 and went on to become one of the most popular social media platforms in the world. The company went public in March 2017 with a valuation of around $24 billion at $24 a share, with shares worth around double that today.

John Mackey: Whole Foods
David Matthis and John Mackey for Houston's Shepherd opening (1984).


Although Whole Foods was acquired by Amazon (AMZN) in 2017 for $13.7 billion, John Mackey continues to shape the trajectory of the brand as CEO of the company and an outspoken advocate for organic foods and animal welfare. He also currently serves on several boards of directors for nonprofits including Global Animal Partnership, The Humane Society of the United States, and Conscious Capitalism.

Mackey started his first health food store called SaferWay in 1978 in Austin, Texas, with then-girlfriend Renee Lawson Hardy, running the food store as well as a health food restaurant on the floor above. In 1980, they merged SaferWay with Clarksville Natural Grocery, a company run by Mark Skiles and Craig Weller, renaming the business Whole Foods Market. Mackey, Lawson Hardy, Skiles, and Weller are all co-founders of Whole Foods.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Good News: Senate Confirms Kash Patel as FBI Director
Officials from the U.S. and Hungary Engage in Talks on Economic Collaboration and Sanctions Strategy
James Bond Franchise Transitions to Amazon MGM Studios
Technology Giants Ramp Up Lobbying Initiatives Against Strict EU Regulations
Alibaba Exceeds Quarterly Projections Fueled by Growth in Cloud and AI
Tequila Sector Faces Surplus Crisis as Agave Prices Dive Sharply
Residents of Flintshire Mobile Home Park Grapple with Maintenance Issues and Uncertain Future
Ronan Keating Criticizes Irish Justice System Following Fatal Crash Involving His Brother
Gordon Ramsay's Lucky Cat Restaurant Faces Unprecedented Theft
Israeli Family Mourns Loss of Peace Advocate Oded Lifschitz as Body Returned from Gaza
Former UK Defense Chief Calls for Enhanced European Support for Ukraine
Pope Francis Admitted to Hospital in Rome Amid Rising Succession Speculation
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, at the age of 83, Declares His Retirement.
Whistleblower Reveals Whitehall’s Focus on Kabul Animal Airlift Amid Crisis
Politicians Who Deliberately Lie Could Face Removal from Office in Wales
Scottish Labour Faces Challenges Ahead of 2026 Holyrood Elections
Leftwing Activists Less Likely to Work with Political Rivals, Study Finds
Boris Johnson to Host 'An Evening with Boris Johnson' at Edinburgh's Usher Hall
Planned Change in British Citizenship Rules Faces First Legal Challenge
Northumberland Postal Worker Sentenced for Sexual Assaults During Deliveries
British Journalist Missing in Brazil for 11 Days
Tesco Fixes Website Glitch That Disrupted Online Grocery Orders
Amnesty International Critiques UK's Predictive Policing Practices
Burglar Jailed After Falling into Home-Made Trap in Blyth
Sellafield Nuclear Site Exits Special Measures for Physical Security Amid Ongoing Cybersecurity Concerns
Avian Influenza Impact on Seals in Norfolk: Four Deaths Confirmed
First Arrest Under Scotland's Abortion Clinic Buffer Zone Law Amidst International Controversy
Meghan Markle Rebrands Lifestyle Venture as 'As Ever' Ahead of Netflix Series Launch
Inter-Island Ferry Services Between Guernsey and Jersey Set to Expand
Significant Proportion of Cancer Patients in England and Wales Not Receiving Recommended Treatments
Final Consultation Launched for Vyrnwy Frankton Power Line Project
Drug Misuse Deaths in Scotland Rise by 12% in 2023
Failed £100 Million Cocaine Smuggling Operation in the Scottish Highlands
Central Cee Equals MOBO Awards Record; Bashy and Ayra Starr Among Top Honorees
EastEnders: Four Decades of Challenging Social Norms
Jonathan Bailey Channels 'Succession' in Bold Richard II Performance
Northern Ireland's First Astronaut Engages in Rigorous Spacewalk Training
Former Postman Sentenced for Series of Sexual Offences in Northumberland
Record Surge in Anti-Muslim Hate Crimes Across the UK in 2024
Omagh Bombing Inquiry Concludes Commemorative Hearings with Survivor Testimonies
UK Government Introduces 'Ronan's Law' to Combat Online Knife Sales to Minors
Metal Detectorists Unearth 15th-Century Coin Hoard in Scottish Borders
Woman Charged in 1978 Death of Five-Year-Old Girl in South London
Expanding Sinkhole in Godstone, Surrey, Forces Evacuations and Road Closures
Bangor University Announces Plans to Cut 200 Jobs Amid £15 Million Savings Target
British Journalist Charlotte Peet Reported Missing in Brazil
UK Inflation Rises to 3% in January Amid Higher Food Prices and School Fees
Starmer Defends Zelensky Amidst Trump's 'Dictator' Allegation
Zelensky Calls on World Leaders to Back Peace Efforts in Light of Strains with Trump
UK Prime minister, Mr. Keir Starmer, has stated that any peace agreement aimed at ending the conflict in Ukraine "MUST" include a US security guarantee to deter Russian aggression
×