Brian Acton, the co-founder of WhatsApp, who is also on the Signal Foundation board will be serving as the interim CEO of Signal as the company looks for a CEO externally. Moxie Marlinspike, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Signal is stepping down from the position.

“It’s a new year, and I’ve decided it’s a good time to replace myself as the CEO of Signal. I have now been working on Signal for almost a decade. It has always been my goal for Signal to grow and sustain beyond my involvement, but four years ago that would still not have been possible,” Marlinspike said in a post on the Signal blog.

The creator of the messaging app further explained how Signal has grown over the past four years and currently has a team of 30 people including engineers, designers, support staff, and an “accomplished and committed” leadership team.

“We have a great leadership team that is facilitating product development, managing the organisation, and pushing the technology forward. Most importantly, the values and the mission that Signal was built on are embedded in the whole of the organisation, and everyone involved is here to honour them and see them through,” he added.

Signal’s popularity

He further added how Signal has grown in adoption and popularity and expressed his need to “bring in someone with fresh energy and commitment” to make the most of that.

“In other words, after a decade or more, it’s difficult to overstate how important Signal is to me, but I now feel very comfortable replacing myself as CEO based on the team we have, and also believe that it is an important step for expanding on Signal’s success,” he said.

“I’ve been talking with candidates over the last few months, but want to open up the search with this announcement in order to help find the best person for the next decade of Signal. Please get in touch if that might be you,” he further added.

Marlinspike will continue to remain on the Signal board and will be transitioning out as CEO over the next month in order to focus on the candidate search.

“Brian Acton, who is also on the Signal Foundation board, has volunteered to serve as interim CEO during the search period. I have every confidence in his commitment to the mission and ability to facilitate the team for this time,” he said.

“We already have so much exciting work that’s coming soon in the pipeline right now, and I’m optimistic about all the potential for Signal over the next decade,” he further added.

The messaging app had witnessed a massive surge in usage following WhatsApp’s controversial privacy update in January 2021. New installs increased at a significant rate after a tweet from Tesla CEO Elon Musk that read, “Use Signal” last year.

In the first four months of 2021 itself, Signal had witnessed a surge of 1,192 per cent y-o-y in first-time downloads to 64.6 million, as per data from Sensor Tower.