Jack Patrick Dorsey is an American computer programmer and entrepreneur who is known as the co-founder of Twitter, an online news and social networking service that allows users to post and interact with messages called “Tweets”.
Early years and education
Jack Dorsey was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri on November 19, 1976. Dorsey attended the Catholic Bishop DuBourg High School and worked as a fashion model when he was a teenager. When he was fourteen, Dorsey became interested in dispatch routing. Many taxi companies nowadays still uses the software he created in the area of dispatch logistics.
In 1995 – 1997, he attended the University of Missouri–Rolla and then transferred to New York University but he eventually dropped out just before graduating.
In 2000, Dorsey founded his own company that allows dispatch of couriers, taxis, and emergency services from the internet. He also made networks of medical devices and “frictionless service market”. In 2010, Dorsey of had thought of an idea for a web-based real time short-message communication service.
When he first saw AOL’s instant messaging serving, he wondered if it was possible to share the software’s user status among friends. At that time, Odeo was interested in text messaging service and Dorsey thought that SMS text somehow suits his idea of the status-message sharing. In about two weeks, he built Twitter. His idea gathered interest at Odeo and soon an investment from Evan WIlliams.
Early creation of Twitter started in March 2006, by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone. Dorsey published the very first Twitter message at 9:50 pm (PST) on March 21, 2006 – “just setting up my twttr.” Dorsey said the word “twitter” was derived from a short burst of information and chirps from birds, which is exactly what the product was.
At first, twitter started as an internal service for Odeo employees, the full version was launched to public in July 2006. In October, Odeo, together with its assets Odeo.com and Twitter, was acquired by Evan Williams, Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone and some other members of Odeo. Twitter became a company in April 2007. At this stage, there was no clear distinction what Twitter was. People called it a social network, they also called it microblogging – there was just no clear definition. It is something new and did not replace anything.
The South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) conference in 2007 was the tipping point for twitter where there was an increase from 20,000 to 60,000 tweets per day. Twitter grew rapidly grew with 400,000 tweets per quarter in 2007 and increased to 100 million tweets per quarter in 2008. In February 2010, Twitter reached 50 million user tweets per day and in March 2011, about 140 million tweets posted daily.
In April 2011, Twitter acquired Atebits which is the developer of the Apple’s award-winning Twitter client, Twittie. Twittie is now being used as the official Twitter client for the iPhone, iPad. Mac.
IPO
In September 2013, Twitter filed papers with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and planned to raise $1 billion for its stock market. The IPO filing indicated that Twitter has 200,000,000+ monthly active users and 500,000,000 tweets per day. On November 7, 2013, Twitter shares opened at $26 and closed at $44.90, making a $31 billion valuation for the company. William received $2.56 billion, Dorsey $1.05 billion, and Costolo’s was $345 million. In September 2016, Twitter shares increased to 20%. Dorsey was CEO of Twitter until October 2008 when Williams took over and Dorsey became chairman of the board. On March 28, 2011 Dorsey returned to Twitter as Executive Chairman and was named permanent CEO of Twitter on October 5, 2015.
Square
Dorsey, along with co-founder Jim McKelvey also developed another platform called Square, that allows debit and credit card payments on a mobile device. It was released in May 2010. It is a square-shaped device that can be attached to a mobile phone, acts as a card reader, and allows a transfer of payment to the recipient and then sign their name for confirmation. The idea came to Dorsey when McKelvey was unable to close a sale because he could not accept credit card payments. From 10 employees in December 2009, Square grew to over 100 employees in June 2011 and was valued at $3.2 billion in September 2012. The company filed for an IPO to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange in October 14, 2015. Jack Dorsey is the CEO of Square.
Net Worth
As of January 2019, Jack Dorsey’s net worth is $5.1 billion.