Twitter makes it official: Co-founder Dorsey now CEO

Twitter ended its drawn-out search for a new CEO on Monday, putting co-founder Jack Dorsey officially back in the saddle as the social media service seeks to win over millions more users.

The soft-spoken 38-year-old will also remain chief executive of digital payments firm Square, Twitter said, putting him at the reins of two tech giants in Silicon Valley.

"Our work forward is to make Twitter easy to understand by anyone in the world, and give more utility to the people who love to use it daily!" Dorsey tweeted early Monday.

The nomination of Dorsey, who ran Twitter in 2007-2008 and served as interim chief executive for the third quarter after Dick Costolo resigned in June, brings the messaging company full circle.

Dorsey sent the first ever "tweet" on March 21, 2006. His account, @jack, now has more than three million followers.

His return at the reins of Twitter comes as the one-to-many messaging platform, which has not yet turned a profit, struggles to expand its user base above 300 million people.

"There are currently no plans to provide Mr. Dorsey with direct compensation for his role as chief executive officer," Twitter said in a filing Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Investors applauded Dorsey's permanent comeback, pushing Twitter shares up 3.1 percent to $27.13 in morning trade.
- Dreadlocks and nose ring -
Twitter's unusually long search for a CEO had some investors and analysts worried about the future of the company, which has failed to ignite the kind of growth that many had anticipated when it launched its public offering in November 2013.

The wait had created frustration for some investors.

One Twitter stakeholder, Silicon Valley venture investor Chris Sacca, launched two "tweetstorms" to voice support for making Dorsey the permanent CEO.

"Enough is enough. The board needs to act. They are running a 'process' yet there is only one person fit to run this company: @jack," Sacca tweeted on September 11.

"He has the full support of the key players at Twitter and its largest investors."

Like many Silicon Valley celebrities, from Mark Zuckerberg to Bill Gates or Michael Dell, Dorsey dropped out of college -- twice -- in his native Missouri and in New York.

He came up with the software behind Twitter -- allegedly in two weeks -- having taught himself to code.

Dorsey's first turn at the Twitter helm finished badly.

Sporting dreadlocks and a nose ring at the time, he was accused of poor management -- notably of checking out early to attend sewing or yoga classes -- and was finally replaced by another Twitter co-founder, Evan Williams.

Still, Dorsey had remained on the Twitter board and holds slightly more than three percent of Twitter's shares.

He founded Square in 2009 and is the payments firm's largest stakeholder, with a share of about 26 percent, according to a Square filing.

Today the dreadlocks are gone, and Dorsey has a net worth of $2.2 billion according to Forbes.

In addition to his appointment, Twitter announced other changes approved by the board of directors on September 30. It named Adam Bain as chief operating officer. Bain, 42, has overseen Twitter's effort at monetization, including advertising.

Twitter also said Costolo had resigned from the company's board. He had guided the San Francisco-based firm through its IPO.