Jack Dorsey (b. 1976) is an American technology entrepreneur and programmer best known as a co-founder of Twitter and the founder of the financial-technology company Block, formerly Square. [1]
Early life and education
Jack Patrick Dorsey was born on November 19, 1976, in St. Louis, Missouri. As a teenager he developed an interest in computer programming and in software for routing taxis and emergency dispatch, an idea that would later influence his thinking about real-time messaging. He attended Bishop DuBourg High School, studied at the Missouri University of Science and Technology, and later enrolled at New York University, though he left before completing a degree. [2]
Founding Twitter
In 2006, while working at the podcasting company Odeo, Dorsey helped conceive a service that would let users broadcast short status updates to a network of followers. Together with Evan Williams, Biz Stone, and Noah Glass, he developed the platform that became Twitter, whose first message was sent in March 2006. He served as the company's first chief executive from 2007 to 2008 and returned to the role in 2015. Under his direction Twitter grew into one of the world's most widely used social networks and a prominent venue for public and political conversation. [1]
Square and Block
In 2009 Dorsey co-founded Square, a company known for a small card reader that allowed merchants to accept payments through mobile devices. Square expanded into a broad range of financial services for businesses and individuals and became a publicly traded company in 2015. In 2021 the firm was renamed Block, reflecting a wider focus that included cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. [3]
Later ventures and views
Dorsey stepped down as chief executive of Twitter in November 2021 and later left its board of directors. He has been an outspoken advocate of Bitcoin and decentralized technologies and has supported efforts to build open, decentralized alternatives to conventional social media, including the Bluesky project. He is also widely associated with an interest in minimalism and meditation. [4]
