Arab Press

بالشعب و للشعب
Wednesday, Dec 24, 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

Arab Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Saudi Arabia’s 2025: A Pivotal Year of Global Engagement and Domestic Transformation
Saudi Arabia to Introduce Sugar-Content Based Tax on Sweetened Drinks from January 2026
Saudi Hotels Prepare for New Hospitality Roles as Alcohol Curbs Ease
Global Airports Forum Highlights Saudi Arabia’s Emergence as a Leading Aviation Powerhouse
Saudi Arabia Weighs Strategic Choice on Iran Amid Regional Turbulence
Saudi Arabia Condemns Sydney Bondi Beach Shooting and Expresses Solidarity with Australia
Washington Watches Beijing–Riyadh Rapprochement as Strategic Balance Shifts
Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 Drives Measurable Lift in Global Reputation and Influence
Alcohol Policies Vary Widely Across Muslim-Majority Countries, With Many Permitting Consumption Under Specific Rules
Saudi Arabia Clarifies No Formal Ban on Photography at Holy Mosques for Hajj 2026
Libya and Saudi Arabia Sign Strategic MoU to Boost Telecommunications Cooperation
Elon Musk’s xAI Announces Landmark 500-Megawatt AI Data Center in Saudi Arabia
Israel Moves to Safeguard Regional Stability as F-35 Sales Debate Intensifies
Cardi B to Make Historic Saudi Arabia Debut at Soundstorm 2025 Festival
U.S. Democratic Lawmakers Raise National Security and Influence Concerns Over Paramount’s Hostile Bid for Warner Bros. Discovery
Hackers Are Hiding Malware in Open-Source Tools and IDE Extensions
Traveling to USA? Homeland Security moving toward requiring foreign travelers to share social media history
Wall Street Analysts Clash With Riyadh Over Saudi Arabia’s Deficit Outlook
Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Cement $1 Trillion-Plus Deals in High-Profile White House Summit
Saudi Arabia Opens Alcohol Sales to Wealthy Non-Muslim Residents Under New Access Rules
U.S.–Saudi Rethink Deepens — Washington Moves Ahead Without Linking Riyadh to Israel Normalisation
Saudi Arabia and Israel Deprioritise Diplomacy: Normalisation No Longer a Middle-East Priority
As Trump Deepens Ties with Saudi Arabia, Push for Israel Normalization Takes a Back Seat
Thai Food Village Debuts at Saudi Feast Food Festival 2025 Under Thai Commerce Minister Suphajee’s Lead
Saudi Arabia Sharpens Its Strategic Vision as Economic Transformation Enters New Phase
Saudi Arabia Projects $44 Billion Budget Shortfall in 2026 as Economy Rebalances
OPEC+ Unveils New Capacity-Based System to Anchor Future Oil Output Levels
Hong Kong Residents Mourn Victims as 1,500 People Relocated After Devastating Tower Fire
Saudi Arabia’s SAMAI Initiative Surpasses One-Million-Citizen Milestone in National AI Upskilling Drive
Saudi Arabia’s Specialty Coffee Market Set to Surge as Demand Soars and New Exhibition Drops in December
Saudi Arabia Moves to Open Two New Alcohol Stores for Foreigners Under Vision 2030 Reform
Saudi Arabia’s AI Ambitions Gain Momentum — but Water, Talent and Infrastructure Pose Major Hurdles
Tensions Surface in Trump-MBS Talks as Saudi Pushes Back on Israel Normalisation
Saudi Arabia Signals Major Maritime Crack-Down on Houthi Routes in Red Sea
Italy and Saudi Arabia Seal Over 20 Strategic Deals at Business Forum in Riyadh
COP30 Ends Without Fossil Fuel Phase-Out as US, Saudi Arabia and Russia Align in Obstruction Role
Saudi-Portuguese Economic Horizons Expand Through Strategic Business Council
DHL Commits $150 Million for Landmark Logistics Hub in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Aramco Weighs Disposals Amid $10 Billion-Plus Asset Sales Discussion
Trump Hosts Saudi Crown Prince for Major Defence and Investment Agreements
Families Accuse OpenAI of Enabling ‘AI-Driven Delusions’ After Multiple Suicides
Riyadh Metro Records Over One Hundred Million Journeys as Saudi Capital Accelerates Transit Era
Trump’s Grand Saudi Welcome Highlights U.S.–Riyadh Pivot as Israel Watches Warily
U.S. Set to Sell F-35 Jets to Saudi Arabia in Major Strategic Shift
Saudi Arabia Doubles Down on U.S. Partnership in Strategic Move
Saudi Arabia Charts Tech and Nuclear Leap Under Crown Prince’s U.S. Visit
Trump Elevates Saudi Arabia to Major Non-NATO Ally Amid Defense Deal
Trump Elevates Saudi Arabia to Major Non-NATO Ally as MBS Visit Yields Deepened Ties
Iran Appeals to Saudi Arabia to Mediate Restart of U.S. Nuclear Talks
Musk, Barra and Ford Join Trump in Lavish White House Dinner for Saudi Crown Prince
×