After serving as its chief executive for more than a decade, Twitch CEO, Emmett Shear will stepping down after serving as CEO for more than a decade.
“Twitch often feels to me like a child I’ve been raising as well,” Shear said. “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 said in a blog post about his readiness to move on from the company after 16 years.
Shear is one of the founders of Justin.tv, a variety livestreaming service that would grew into Twitch.
Justin.tv was overshadowed by Twitch, its spin-off service which is focused on gaming, and the latter product became the team’s focus since 2014.
Amazon bought the company for $970 million the same year.
Twitch’s President Dan Clancy will step in as CEO of the company while Shear will remain on the board as an advisor.
Shear’s decision to step down and the ascension of Clancy was a surprise to many as Shear was the company’s face.