Jack Dorsey expected to be named permanent Twitter CEO

Dorsey has been acting Twitter CEO since June

Jack Dorsey, Twitter co-founder, is expected to become the company's permanent CEO (Getty Images)

Twitter has come full circle to appoint its co-founder an interim boss Jack Dorsey as chief executive on a permanent basis after a three month search for a full-time chief.

The appointment is more surprising than it first sounds. Dorsey was expected to stay at the mobile payments company he founded in 2009, Square, as the company goes public. But Dorsey stepped in to take the reins at Twitter when former chief executive Dick Costolo in June after a user growth started to tail off, nine years since the company was founded.

Industry insiders have said Dorsey had always coveted his former role and a report from usually well-informed tech news site Re/code claimed that he has finally got what he wanted.

Citing sources, the outlet said Dorsey could be named as chief executive as early as Thursday, though that could be pushed back as the board decides on roles for other executives, including revenue chief Adam Bain and financial head Anthony Noto.

Bain is widely expected to become chief operating officer.

Re/code added, however, that Twitter may have a 'Plan B' in an outside candidate, according to one source, though generally discussions with external candidates were not thought to have got very far.

The news comes a day after reports suggested the platform may be considering expanding its 140-character-per-tweet limit.

The move was thought to be in conjunction with a new product, so the traditional format would not be replaced entirely.

It would address one of the criticisms levelled at Costolo, concerning a lack of diversification of the service.