Twitter made two major announcements on Thursday, as they noted the departure of CEO Dick Costolo, and a welcome change to the character limits on direct messaging from 140 characters to 10,000.
The company announced (PDF link) to investors that Costolo will step down effective July 1, with co-founder and chairman Jack Dorsey to serve as interim CEO while Twitter’s board searches for a suitable replacement.
“I am tremendously proud of the Twitter team and all that the team has accomplished together during my six years with the Company,” said Costolo. “We have great leaders who work well together and a clear strategy that informs our objectives and priorities.”
Upper management has been a bit of a revolving door for Twitter, as Dorsey, who led the company through its rounds of investment, was ousted and replaced by co-founder Evan Williams in 2008, who three years later was pushed out, only to be succeeded by Costolo.
Costolo will retain a seat on Twitter’s board, Dorsey plans to simultaneously perform his interim CEO duties at Twitter, while also playing the same role at payments processor Square.
In a separate announcement, Twitter announced an upcoming change to the character cap on direct messages. The company says to expect the change sometime in July. The 140 character limit on public tweets will remain in place.
