Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, who led the company through its largest growth period and took it public in November 2013, is stepping down from his role. He will leave from his post on July 1. He took this decision amid criticism over the company’s disappointing financial performance and a recent stock slide.

Jack Dorsey, a co-founder who served as CEO during Twitter’s early years, will temporarily take the reins till the company finds a permanent replacement. Dorsey and Costolo expressed confidence in the company’s direction and said the board is not seeking major changes.

Shares jumped between 6 and 7 per cent following the announcement of Costolo’s departure, but moderated to just 2 per cent higher after Dorsey stated that there would be no change in strategy. Employees inside the firm give Costolo an 88 per cent approval rating as CEO, down from 94 per cent in 2014, according to a survey of 220 staff by Glassdoor.

Tidbits

• Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service.
• Users use mobile phones or computers to send and to read messages, called “tweets”. Tweets can be up to 140 characters long.
• Twitter is referred sometimes as the “SMS of the Internet”.
• Twitter can also be used as an amateur and professional news source