Jack Patrick Dorsey (born November 19, 1976) is an American businessperson known as a co-founder of Twitter, Inc., Block, Inc., and Bitchat. ^{[1] [66]}

He served as CEO of Twitter from 2007 to 2008 and again from 2015 to 2021, and is currently the principal executive officer and chairman of Block, Inc. As of May 2025, his net worth was estimated at $3.8 billion. ^[1][2][3]

Early life

Jack Dorsey was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. His parents are Timothy G. Dorsey and Marcia A. Dorsey. He is partly of Italian descent on his mother's side. His father worked for a company that developed mass spectrometers, and his mother was a homemaker. Dorsey was raised Catholic, and his uncle is a Catholic priest in Cincinnati. He attended Bishop DuBourg High School. In his youth, he occasionally worked as a fashion model. By age 14, he had developed an interest in dispatch routing. ^{[4] [5] [6] [7] [8]}

Education

Dorsey enrolled at the University of Missouri–Rolla in 1995, attending for over two years before transferring to New York University in 1997. He dropped out of NYU two years later, one semester short of graduating. The idea that would eventually become Twitter originated while he was studying at New York University. ^{[7] [9] [10]}

Career

While working on dispatching software, Dorsey moved to California. In 2000, he started a company in Oakland focused on dispatching couriers, taxis, and emergency services via the web. His other projects and ideas during this period included networks of medical devices and a "frictionless service market".

In July 2000, building on his dispatching work and inspired by platforms like LiveJournal and AOL Instant Messenger, he conceived the idea for a web-based real-time status and short message communication service. He approached Odeo, a company interested in text messaging at the time. Dorsey and Biz Stone developed a prototype of Twitter in approximately two weeks. The concept gained traction among Odeo users and received investment from Evan Williams, a co-founder of Odeo. ^{[11] [12] [13] [14]}

Twitter

Dorsey became the chief executive officer (CEO) of Twitter when it was founded in 2007. He guided the startup through two rounds of venture capital funding. As the service grew, Dorsey prioritized improving uptime, even over generating revenue, which Twitter was not designed to do as of 2008. He identified commercial use of Twitter and its API as potential sources for paid features. Dorsey stated that the company's guiding principles were simplicity, constraint, and craftsmanship. ^{[14] [15] [16]}

In 2008, Dorsey lost his position as CEO, reportedly due to leaving work early for other interests such as yoga and fashion design. Evan Williams took over as CEO, and Dorsey became chairman of the board. During his tenure as chairman, Dorsey participated in State Department delegations to Iraq in April 2009 and Russia in February 2010. He responded to a request from Jared Cohen to delay scheduled Twitter maintenance during Iran's Green Revolution in 2009, as Iranians were using the platform for communication. In March 2011, he returned to Twitter as executive chairman after Dick Costolo replaced Williams as CEO. In July 2015, following Costolo's resignation, Dorsey became interim CEO and was named permanent CEO in October 2015. ^{[17] [18][19]}

In May 2016, Dorsey announced that Twitter would no longer count photos and links towards the 140-character limit to provide more space for text, aiming to attract new users. In November 2016, his personal Twitter account was briefly suspended due to what he described as an "internal mistake". Twitter introduced recommendation algorithms in the main feed in 2016. In 2022, Dorsey stated that his biggest mistake was focusing on building tools for Twitter to manage public conversation rather than tools for users to manage it themselves. In February 2017, Dorsey and Executive Chairman Omid Kordestani matched a $530,000 donation from Twitter staff to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), bringing the total donation to $1.59 million. ^{[20] [21]}

In March 2018, Dorsey announced plans for an improved verification system to allow users to verify more facts about themselves, emphasizing identity proof. This overhaul was not completed before the U.S. midterm election of 2018. In September 2018, Dorsey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee regarding the use of social media by Russia and others in the 2016 presidential election. Following his testimony, Twitter shares fell six percent. In April 2019, Dorsey met privately with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House to discuss Trump's concerns about Twitter limiting or removing some of his and other conservatives' followers. After the meeting, Dorsey tweeted that they discussed making Twitter "healthier and more civil". A week prior, Dorsey spoke at a TED talk about the platform's issues with abuse and misinformation. ^[22][23]

On August 30, 2019, Dorsey's personal Twitter account was reportedly breached for nearly an hour by a group called the Chuckling Squad, which posted and retweeted racist tweets. In October 2019, Twitter's stock price dropped by nearly 21 percent following a third-quarter earnings report miss, which the company attributed to ad targeting problems. Dorsey had also been working to mitigate Twitter's impact on political elections, including banning all political ads, which was seen as a significant factor in the stock drop. Dorsey announced that Twitter would ban all political advertising globally starting November 22, 2019. ^{[25] [26]}

In February 2020, activist hedge fund Elliott Management reportedly sought to remove Dorsey and nominate directors to Twitter's board. The parties reached an agreement days later, allowing Dorsey to remain CEO. In October 2020, Dorsey was among several tech CEOs subpoenaed by the US Senate Commerce Committee to testify about the legal immunity platforms receive under Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1996. ^[27]

Dorsey announced his immediate resignation as Twitter's CEO on November 29, 2021, and was replaced by CTO Parag Agrawal. Dorsey continued as CEO of Block, Inc. He left the Twitter board of directors in May 2022. In October 2022, Dorsey retained his 2.4% ownership of Twitter when Elon Musk acquired the company. ^[28][29]

Block

Dorsey co-founded Square with Jim McKelvey, launching the platform in May 2010. Square provides a system for small businesses to accept debit and credit card payments on mobile devices using a small, square-shaped reader that attaches via the headphone jack.

The system also offers paperless receipts via text message or email and is available as a free app. Square grew rapidly, from 10 employees in December 2009 to over 100 by June 2011. The company's office is located on Market Street in San Francisco. In September 2012, Business Insider valued Square Inc. at $3.2 billion. Dorsey serves as CEO of Square, Inc. In October 2015, Square filed for an IPO to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange; at that time, Dorsey owned 24.4 percent of the company. ^{[33] [34]}

In March 2020, the FDIC permitted Square to open a bank, with plans to launch Square Financial Services in 2021. In May 2020, Dorsey announced that Square employees could permanently become remote workers. In 2020, Square reportedly began withholding up to 30 percent of funds collected by merchants using its Cash App for months. On December 1, 2021, the platform officially changed its name to Block, Inc., partly reflecting Dorsey's interest in blockchain technology and to better encompass the company's various businesses beyond merchant payments. The stock ticker for Block, Inc. remained "SQ". ^{[35] [36]}

Messaging and Digital Initiatives

Dorsey has been a vocal advocate for Bitcoin, stating that if he were not working on Twitter and Square, he would be focused on Bitcoin. He is one of the individuals speculated to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin. He has also endorsed and financially supported the development of the Nostr social networking protocol, donating 14 BTC to its developer in 2022. In 2023, Dorsey provided seed funding for OCEAN, a Bitcoin mining pool aiming to decentralize Bitcoin mining by allowing miners to select or construct their own block templates. ^{[37] [38] [39]}

In February 2022, Dorsey joined the board of directors of Bluesky, a Twitter spin-off developing a decentralized social networking protocol and application. He left the Bluesky board in May 2024, subsequently endorsing X (formerly Twitter) as "freedom technology". Dorsey cited Bluesky's move towards a traditional corporate structure and the introduction of centralized moderation tools as key reasons for his departure. ^[40][41]

Bitchat

In July 2025, Dorsey published the white paper for Bitchat, a decentralized messaging platform designed to operate entirely over Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) mesh networks without requiring internet access.

Bitchat aims to provide censorship-resistant communication using a store-and-forward architecture, end-to-end encryption, and ephemeral messaging. It does not rely on phone numbers, emails, or permanent identifiers and supports room-based messaging with optional password protection. Messages are relayed peer-to-peer within physical range, with a multi-hop design extending communication. The platform caches messages for temporarily offline devices with tiered retention. ^[42]

Around the same time as the Bitchat launch plan, Dorsey endorsed White Noise, another privacy-focused chat application. White Noise is presented as a more conventional alternative to mainstream chat apps, combining features of platforms like Telegram and Signal with a focus on security and usability. It utilizes end-to-end encryption with forward secrecy and post-compromise protection.

White Noise operates on a decentralized identity system built on Nostr's infrastructure and the Messaging Layer Security (MLS), allowing users to maintain identity and data across platforms without central services and communicate anonymously. It is powered by a network of distributed nodes, enabling users to switch relays or host their own if access is blocked. The project reportedly plans to integrate native Bitcoin payments via Lightning Network and Nostr zaps. White Noise is planned to be open source and available on multiple platforms. Dorsey's endorsement of White Noise, despite developing Bitchat, suggests support for the broader privacy-focused communication space. ^[43]

Other projects

In 2013, Dorsey expressed admiration for Michael Bloomberg and stated his aspiration to become mayor of New York City. He served as a judge for Bloomberg's NYC BigApps competition in 2011. In December 2013, Dorsey was announced as a new member of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company. He did not seek reelection at Disney's annual meeting in March 2018, reportedly due to increasing conflicts of interest. Dorsey is a board member of the Berggruen Institute's Governance Center. He also contributed advice to a chapter in Tim Ferriss' book Tools of Titans. ^{[44] [45]}

Politics

In 2019, Dorsey contributed financially to the 2020 Democratic presidential campaigns of Tulsi Gabbard and Andrew Yang. In 2020, he donated $15 million to support 29 mayors piloting guaranteed basic income programs in the United States.

Until 2021, Dorsey applied "world leader" exceptions on Twitter that allowed President Donald Trump to post content that would typically violate the platform's rules. Starting in May 2020, some of Trump's tweets received warning labels, with more flaggings applied after Election Day in November 2020. On January 6, 2021, following the storming of the U.S. Capitol, Twitter applied a 12-hour timeout to Trump's account for violating its Civic Integrity policy. Trump's account was permanently banned on January 8 based on a review of his posts. On January 14, Dorsey defended the ban but also stated it "sets a precedent I feel is dangerous".

In November 2022, Twitter reinstated Trump's account after Elon Musk purchased the platform. In June 2023, Dorsey endorsed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in his campaign for the 2024 United States presidential election. ^{[48] [49] [50] [51]}

Philanthropic and other donations

In March 2016, Dorsey fully funded approximately 600 public school projects in Missouri registered on DonorsChoose. In October 2019, he donated $350,000 to #TeamTrees, a nonprofit initiative aiming to plant 20 million trees.

On April 7, 2020, Dorsey announced he would transfer about $1 billion of his equity in Square, Inc., representing nearly a third of his total wealth, to Start Small, LLC. This fund was established to support global COVID-19 relief efforts, and its focus would later shift to girls' health and education, and universal basic income.

He committed to operating the fund transparently. Dorsey has donated $24 million to over 40 different grantees for relief efforts. In August 2020, he donated $10 million to Boston University's Center for Antiracist Research. In May 2021, he donated $15 million to support relief efforts during India's COVID-19 second wave, distributing funds to three NGOs: Care ($10 million), Aid India ($2.5 million), and Sewa International ($2.5 million). ^[52][ ^{[53] [54] [55] [56]}[58]](#cite-id-0Q76CuCY3w)^[58]

Awards and recognition

• In 2008, he was recognized in the MIT Technology Review TR35 as one of the top 35 innovators globally under the age of 35.
• In 2012, The Wall Street Journal presented him with the "Innovator of the Year Award" for technology. ^{[59] [60]}
• He was named Founder of the Year at the 5th Annual Crunchies Awards hosted by TechCrunch in 2012. ^[61]
• In 2013, Forbes listed him as the world's most eligible billionaire bachelor. ^[62]
• Fox Business ranked him as the No. 4 Worst CEO of 2016, citing stagnant growth, falling stock prices, and his part-time commitment to Twitter. ^[63]
• In 2017, 24/7 Wall St. included Dorsey among the 20 Worst CEOs in America. ^{[64] [65] [3]}