Jay Graber is steps down as head of Bluesky, a social media platform announced exclusively to WIRED. Toni Schneider, a venture capitalist, will serve as interim CEO until a constant successor is found.
“As Bluesky matures, the company needs an experienced operator focused on scale and execution, and I’m getting back to what I do best: building new things,” Graber wrote in statement about personnel changes.
Graber joined Bluesky in 2019, when it was a research project within Twitter focused on developing a decentralized framework for the social network. She became the company’s first CEO in 2021, when the company transformed into an independent entity. She oversaw the platform’s extraordinary growth and the difficulties it experienced as it transformed from a quirky Twitter subsidiary to a full-fledged X alternative.
Schneider tells WIRED that he intends to support Bluesky “become not only the best open social app, but also the foundation of an entirely new generation of user-owned networks.”
Schneider, who will continue to work at Bluesky as a partner at venture capital firm True Ventures, was previously CEO of WordPress parent company Automattic from 2006 to 2014. He also served again as the company’s CEO in 2024 while CEO Matt Mullenweg went on sabbatical. During this time, Schneider met Graber and became an advisor to Bluesky’s management. In blog post announcing his fresh role, Schneider stated that he plans to place an emphasis on scaling, describing his work as “helping launch the next phase of Bluesky’s growth.”
This isn’t the end for Graber and Bluesky. She will become the company’s chief innovation officer, a position that will focus on Bluesky’s technology stack rather than its business operations. The position was created for her. Graber, who began her career as a software engineer, always seemed enthusiastic when discussing Bluesky’s technology rather than its revenue streams.
Bluesky’s board of directors will appoint the next constant CEO. Members include Jabber founder Jeremie Miller, cryptocurrency-focused VC Kinjal Shah, TechDirt founder Mike Masnick and Graber. (Twitter founder Jack Dorsey was originally a board member, but resigned in 2024.) This means Graber will have a say in the fate of her successor. The talent search is still in its early stages.
This is a pivotal moment for Bluesky. The company has succeeded in positioning itself as the progressive successor to Elon Musk’s X. This helped the platform’s growth as X’s far-right ideological turn led some users to seek out fresh social networks. According to the yearbook, in 2025 the number of Bluesky users increased from 25 million to over 40 million Transparency report. The band is confident that they can continue to grow while staying true to their roots. Masnick says Schneider’s work at Automattic “proves you can build a real business around open source.”
However, when it comes to social media platforms, it is still a niche and eternal offer the subject of complaint from the expert class about being too awake or not awake enough. (Just last week, in an interview with WIRED, Dorsey said he was unhappy with the platform because of “ideology.”) Meta’s competing app, Threads, has more or less 400 million usersthat’s about 10 times more vigorous accounts than Bluesky. Even if it isn’t interested in chasing the hockey stick growth traditionally favored in Silicon Valley, the company needs to convince more people and institutions to apply its platform if it wants to claim a role in the digital commons.