Twitch’s Co-founder Emmett Shear Steps Down as CEO to Prioritize Family

Emmett Shear, the co-founder of the popular live-streaming platform Twitch, has announced that he will be stepping down as the company’s CEO. Shear will continue to work with Twitch as an advisor, while Dan Clancy, the current President of Twitch, will take over as the new CEO with immediate effect.

In a blog post, Shear stated that his decision was influenced by the birth of his first child, adding that

“Twitch often feels to me like a child I’ve been raising as well. And while I will always want to be there if Twitch needs me, at 16 years old, it feels to me Twitch is ready to move out of the house and venture alone.”

Shear co-founded Justin.tv in 2007, which later became Twitch and was acquired by Amazon for almost $1 billion in 2014.

Clancy joined Twitch in 2019 as the company’s Vice President of Product and Engineering, responsible for the platform’s product development. He previously worked for Google for over nine years, including as YouTube’s Engineering and Consumer Product Lead.

While Shear’s departure from the CEO position marks a significant change for Twitch, the company is expected to continue to operate smoothly under Clancy’s leadership. The streaming platform has seen massive growth in recent years, with millions of users watching and streaming content every day. With Clancy at the helm, Twitch will continue to innovate and improve its platform, delivering the best possible experience for its users.

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