Parag Agrawal

Parag Agrawal
Agrawal in 2025
Born (1984-05-21) 21 May 1984
Ajmer, Rajasthan, India
EducationIndian Institute of Technology, Bombay (BTech)
Stanford University (MS, PhD)
Occupations
  • Software engineer
  • businessman
Known forFormer CEO, Twitter, Inc.
PredecessorJack Dorsey
SuccessorElon Musk[1]
SpouseVineeta Agarwala
Children2

Parag Agrawal (Hindi pronunciation: [pəˈɾaːɡ əɡɾəˈʋaːl]; born 21 May 1984)[2] is an Indian-American software engineer and businessman who was the CEO of Twitter, Inc. from November 2021 to October 2022.[3]

Early life and education

Agrawal was born in Ajmer, Rajasthan.[4][5] His father was a senior official in the Indian Department of Atomic Energy and his mother is a retired Economics professor from Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute in Mumbai.[6]

He completed his Secondary Schooling at Atomic Energy Central School No.4 and in 2001, he completed his HSC at Atomic Energy Junior College, Mumbai.[7] In the same year, he secured a gold medal in the International Physics Olympiad held in Antalya, Turkey.[8][9]

In 2005, Agrawal obtained his BTech degree in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT Bombay.[10] That year, he moved to the United States to pursue a PhD in computer science at Stanford University under the guidance of Jennifer Widom.[11][12][13] His Stanford doctoral thesis, published in 2012, is titled "Incorporating Uncertainty in Data Management and Integration".[14][15]

Career

See also: Acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk

Agrawal held research internships at Microsoft Research and Yahoo! Research before joining Twitter as a software engineer in 2011.[16] In October 2017, Twitter announced the appointment of Agrawal as chief technology officer following the departure of Adam Messinger.[17] In December 2019, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced that Agrawal would be in charge of Project Bluesky, an initiative to develop a decentralized social network protocol which later became the Bluesky social media app and accompanying AT Protocol.[18]

In an interview discussing the rise of misinformation on Twitter with MIT Technology Review in November 2020, while still Twitter CTO, when asked about freedom of speech regarding Twitter, Agrawal said: "Our role is not to be bound by the First Amendment, but our role is to serve a healthy public conversation ... [and to] focus less on thinking about free speech, but thinking about how the times have changed."[19]

On November 29, 2021, Dorsey announced that he was resigning as CEO of Twitter and that Agrawal was replacing him immediately.[20][21][22] As CEO, Agrawal was awarded annual compensation of $1 million as well as stock compensation worth $12.5 million.[11] Agrawal was fired as CEO once Elon Musk completed his acquisition of the company on October 27, 2022.[23][24]

Post-Twitter, Agrawal founded an artificial intelligence startup called Parallel Web Systems, which focuses on building infrastructure for artificial intelligence agents to interact with the web at scale. The company received $30 million in funding from Khosla Ventures, Index Ventures, and First Round Capital.[25][26]

Personal life

Parag Agrawal was born in Ajmer, Rajasthan into a Jain family.[4] He is married to Vineeta Agarwala,[27] general partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, where she focuses on investments in biotech and health tech.[28] They have two children,[29] and reside in San Francisco.[27]

References

  1. ^ "Elon Musk officially becomes Twitter CEO and dissolves board of directors". Euronews. 1 November 2022.
  2. ^ "Parag Agrawal: Ajmer Celebrates a Son 'More Powerful than PMs, Presidents'". The Times of India. 30 November 2021.
  3. ^ Conger, Kate; Hirsch, Lauren (27 October 2022). "Elon Musk Completes $44 Billion Deal to Own Twitter". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
  4. ^ a b "अजमेर के रहने वाले हैं ट्विटर के नए CEO:किराए पर रहता था परिवार, 4 दिसंबर को घर आएंगे पराग के मम्मी-पापा" [The new CEO of Twitter is from Ajmer:The family used to live on rent, Parag's parents will come home on 4 December]. Dainik Bhaskar (in Hindi). 30 November 2021.
  5. ^ Isaac, Mike; Conger, Kate; Met, Cade (29 November 2021). "Who Is Parag Agrawal, Twitter's New C.E.O.?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
  6. ^ "THIS is why Twitter's new CEO Parag Agrawal kept his son's name Ansh". MSN. 12 February 2021.
  7. ^ "Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal's teachers call him 'typical topper' with special calibre". The Indian Express. 2 December 2021. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
  8. ^ Damle, Manjiri (13 August 2001). "Indians bag 5 medals at physics Olympiad". The Times of India. Retrieved 28 October 2022.
  9. ^ "IPhO: India - Individual Results". ipho-unofficial.org. Retrieved 28 October 2022.
  10. ^ "Bright Student, Well Organized: How Teachers Remember IIT Bombay Alumnus, Twitter CEO Parag Agarwal". News18. 30 November 2021.
  11. ^ a b "Parag Agrawal becomes Twitter CEO: Who is Parag Agrawal? Here is a brief profile of this IITian in 5 points". India Today. 29 November 2021.
  12. ^ Rajghatta, Chidanand (30 November 2021). "IIT-Bombay alumnus Parag Agrawal is Twitter CEO after Dorsey exit". The Times of India.
  13. ^ Chhapia, Hemali; Doval, Pankaj (30 November 2021). "When Parag Agrawal regretted wasting time tying IIT-JEE supplements". The Times of India.
  14. ^ Agrawal, Parag (2012). "Incorporating Uncertainty in Data Management and Integration". Stanford University.
  15. ^ Spangler, Todd (29 November 2021). "Who Is Parag Agrawal? A Look at Twitter's New CEO". Variety.
  16. ^ Novet, Jordan (9 March 2018). "Twitter taps distinguished engineer Parag Agrawal as new CTO". CNBC.
  17. ^ "Things To Know About New Twitter CEO, Parag Agrawal, From IIT Bombay". News18. 30 November 2021.
  18. ^ Mathews, Eva (30 November 2021). "Who is Parag Agrawal, Twitter's new CEO?". The Times of India. Reuters.
  19. ^ "EmTech Stage: Twitter's CTO on misinformation". MIT Technology Review. 18 November 2020.
  20. ^ Huddleston Jr., Tom (30 November 2021). "Twitter's new 37-year-old CEO went from Twitter engineer to CEO in just 10 years". CNBC. Retrieved 28 October 2022.
  21. ^ Molina, Brett (29 November 2021). "Jack Dorsey steps down as Twitter CEO, Parag Agrawal named as successor, sends stock surging". USA Today.
  22. ^ Feiner, Lauren; Bursztynsky, Jessica (29 November 2021). "Twitter CTO Parag Agrawal will replace Jack Dorsey as CEO". CNBC.
  23. ^ Dang, Sheila; Roumeliotis, Greg (27 October 2022). "Musk starts his Twitter ownership with firings, declares the 'bird is freed'". Reuters. Archived from the original on 28 May 2023. Retrieved 28 October 2022.
  24. ^ Vanian, Jonathan (28 October 2022). "Elon Musk now in charge of Twitter, CEO and CFO have left, sources say". CNBC. Retrieved 28 October 2022.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  25. ^ "Former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal Raises $30 Million For New AI Startup: Report". NDTV.com. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
  26. ^ Ghaffary, Shirin; Wagner, Kurt (14 August 2025). "Twitter's Ex-CEO Is Moving Past His Elon Musk Drama and Starting an AI Company". Bloomberg Businessweek.
  27. ^ a b "Who Is Vineeta Agarwala, And How Is Elon Musk Twitter Buyout Linked To CEO Parag Agrawal Wife". www.india.com. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
  28. ^ Akhtar, Allana (29 November 2021). "Meet Twitter's new CEO: a 37-year-old machine learning and AI expert". Business Insider.
  29. ^ Sadeque, Samira (17 February 2022). "Twitter CEO's weeks-long paternity leave hailed by fellow dads". The Guardian.
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