Emmett Shear reveals he's stepping down as CEO of Twitch

In a surprising and somewhat unexpected announcement on the Twitch blog, CEO and co-founder of Twitch, Emmett Shear, revealed he’s stepping down from the position after 16 years.

In the blog post, Shear opens by talking about the origins of the platform including how Justin.tv transformed into Twitch, and how Twitch eventually became a fully owned subsidiary of Amazon.

Shear then goes on to outline reasons for his departure, notably the birth of his first child and wanting to be “fully there” for his son. It’s then revealed that while Shear will remain at Twitch in an advisory role, Twitch president Dan Clancy has been tapped to take his place as CEO.

With my first child just born, I’ve been reflecting on my future with Twitch. 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. So it is with great poignancy that I share my decision to resign from Twitch as CEO. I want to be fully there for my son as he enters this world and I feel ready for this change to tackle new challenges. I will continue to work at Twitch in an advisory role.

Dan Clancy, our current President, has been a close partner to me these past few years. He will step fully into the role of CEO, effective immediately. He cares deeply about the Twitch community, its streamers, and our staff and understands what makes Twitch, Twitch.

The shift is an immediate one with Shear noting that Dan Clancy “will fully step into the role of CEO, effective immediately.” The blog post concludes with Shear thanking a number of people who’ve helped make Twitch what it is today, and expressing a deep sense of gratitude to the streamers who trusted the platform in its early days with their content and communities, along with “all the streamers who have continued to do so to this day.”

It’s sad to see Shear step down as CEO, but is also reassuring to hear that he’ll remain at the company in an advisory position, and has confidence in Dan Clancy to fulfill the CEO role in his stead. For more on Emmett Shear’s departure, be sure to read through his full post on the Twitch blog. Also check out some of our previous coverage on Twitch including Kai Cenat breaking Twitch’s subscription record, and how TwitchCon 2023 is hosting events in Paris and Las Vegas later this year.