Twitter’s Biz Stone stepping aside, relaunching Obvious

Twitter co-founder Isaac “Biz” Stone has announced he will be moving on from the popular microblogging and social networking service Twitter in order to focus on helping schools and non-profits—and relaunching technology incubator The Obvious Corporation with Twitter co-founder Evan Williams.

“The Twitter crew and its leadership team have grown incredibly productive,” Stone wrote in his blog. “I’ve decided that the most effective use of my time is to get out of the way until I’m called upon to be of some specific use.”

Although Stone says he plans to work with Twitter “for many years to come,” his decision to leave the company is just the latest in a series of executive and leadership changes at the San Francisco-based company. Last year, Evan Williams handed over the CEO role to Dick Costolo, and in March Twitter co-founder (and Square CEO) Jack Dorsey returned to the fold as executive chairman to oversee product development.

The Obvious Corporation is a technology incubator dedicated to developing “systems that help people work together to improve the world.” Williams and Stone didn’t outline any specific projects they have lined up for Obvious, but it’s worth noting that Obvious is what originally spawned Twitter five years ago.

In addition to working with Williams at Obvious, Stone plans to dedicate times to non-profits, schools, the Biz and Lydia Stone Foundation, as well as serve on other companies’ advisory boards.

[Image: Joi Ito]