Twitch CEO and co-founder Emmett Shear leaves streaming giant

Twitch co-founder and CEO Emmett Shear is stepping down from his position after sixteen years at the streaming giant. He wants to spend more time with his family, but will continue to support Twitch in the role of an advisor.

Emmett Shear, via LinkedIn

“Now that my first child has just been born, I’ve been thinking about my future with Twitch. Twitch often feels like a child I raised too. And while I will always want to be there when Twitch needs me, Twitch feels like 16 years old ready to leave home and spread his wings So it is with great emotion that I share my decision to step down from Twitch as CEO I want to be fully there for my son as he takes this world and I feel ready for this change to take on new challenges. I will continue to work at Twitch in an advisory role,” Shear said in a statement. detailed farewell letter on Twitter.

The CEO role is filled internally by Twitch President Don Clancy. Twitch is still looking for a new president. The news comes shortly after the resignation of YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, who has held the position for 9 years.

Shear was present with Twitch from the beginning. However, the streaming platform didn’t start out with that name; first there was Justin.tv, a lifecasting platform founded in 2007. Co-founder Justin Kan broadcast almost his entire life via a live stream on that website and other hosts joined later. It was also possible to broadcast gaming live on the site and at one point it became the most popular part of the site. In 2011 it became a standalone spin-off from Justin.tv and in 2014 the popular platform was acquired by Amazon. That same year, Justin.tv also went offline, although Twitch now has plenty of non-gaming sections, such as just chatting, sports, talk shows, travel, and art.