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Dorsey, 45, is also the head of payments company Square Inc Image Credit: Reuters

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey will step down from his role, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Dorsey and Twitter's board have settled on his successor, the source said, without identifying the person by name.

The company's board has been preparing for Dorsey's departure since last year, the source added.

Twitter was not immediately available for comment. Shares of the microblogging platform surged 9 per cent in early trading, while those of digital payments firm Square Inc, which is also helmed by Dorsey, were up 3 per cent.

In his last tweet on November 28, Dorsey said "I love twitter". The likes on that tweet surged to more than 55,000 on Monday.

CNBC was first to report about Dorsey's move.

In early 2020, Dorsey faced calls from Elliott Management Corp to step down, after the hedge fund argued he was paying too little attention to Twitter while also running payments processing company Square Inc.

Dorsey fended off the pressure by giving Elliott and its ally, buyout firm Silver Lake Partners, seats on Twitter's board.