Dorsey’s Twitter Departure Hints at Tech Moguls’ Restlessness

Jack Dorsey, who is stepping down after six years as Twitter’s chief executive, is one of the tech leaders who seem to have grown tired of managing their empires.

In 2015, when Jack Dorsey rejoined Twitter as its interim chief executive, he raved about the app with quasi-religious fervor, calling it “the closest thing we have to a global consciousness.”

But on Monday, Mr. Dorsey left the pulpit. He resigned, saying in an email to Twitter employees that he believed the company should “stand on its own, free of its founder’s influence or direction.” He announced that Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s chief technology officer, would take over as C.E.O., while Bret Taylor would become its board chair.

In some ways, Mr. Dorsey’s departure is far from surprising. He has faced pressure for more than a year from the activist investor Elliot Management to boost Twitter’s growth and improve its financial performance. He’s also been running Square, the fast-growing financial services company he co-founded, and it always seemed that at some point he would decide that one C.E.O. job was enough. (In his email, Mr. Dorsey said that leaving Twitter was his choice.)