What a Change in Leadership Could Mean for Bluesky Social

CEO Jay Graber is stepping down from her leadership position at Bluesky Social, announcing her transition to the role of Chief Innovation Officer within the business. 

Former Automattic CEO and True Ventures partner Toni Schneider has been named as her interim replacement.

Jay has headed Bluesky’s development since the company’s early stages in 2021, joining the company at its research and development phase and playing a key role in positioning it as a leading alternative to Twitter (now X). 

In a statement on Bluesky’s blog, Jay states she is stepping away from her leadership responsibilities to focus on enhancing the company’s technology systems, instead of the company’s financial and business operations.

“As Bluesky matures, the company needs a seasoned operator focused on scaling and execution, while I return to what I do best: building new things,” she says. 

“As part of this transition, Toni Schneider, former CEO of Automattic and partner at True Ventures, will join our team as interim CEO, while our board runs a search for a permanent chief executive.” 

Toni will act as interim CEO until the company sources Jay’s permanent replacement. 

He brings eight years of CEO leadership experience from his time at Automattic, the software company behind WordPress, in addition to familiarity with open platforms like the Yahoo Developer Network and open marketplace companies like Bandcamp.

Discussing Toni’s tenure in the technology industry, Jay adds: “Toni believes deeply in the Bluesky mission, and has been an advisor to the company and me personally for over a year.

She adds that he “was a key part of guiding that mission, and is someone who leads with genuine curiosity, takes the long view, and deeply understands what it means to build a company around a mission.”

Plans to initiate growth

Jay’s departure as CEO comes at an important time for Bluesky, with the platform's user base crossing the 40 million-user threshold in November 2025, establishing it as a popular alternative to X.

In her new role as Chief Innovation Officer, a position created for her, Jay plans to develop the company’s digital architecture and her vision of the AT Protocol, Bluesky’s framework for decentralisation.

Bluesky has outlined several areas for tech development earlier this year, including in-house curation tools to create real-time feeds during live events, live streaming capabilities and an improved Discover feed to personalise the user experience.

These developments will fall under the direction of Jay, who will continue the company's goal of assessing and leaning into effective technologies, while the company invests accordingly.

Discussing Bluesky’s next phase of growth, Toni says: “At Bluesky, a small and extraordinarily talented team has signed up over 40 million people, nurtured an open developer ecosystem with over 500 active apps, and scaled all the systems that make that experience smooth and possible.” 

“[...] He adds that “they’ve done it while staying true to the open protocol underneath. Now it’s time to build on that foundation and deliver more open goodness to the world.”

Commitments under new leadership

Under Toni’s leadership, Bluesky remains committed to providing its users with an open, user-controlled social experience. 

He says that the company will be dedicated to maintaining what Jay and others have established for online users, in particular, user ownership of data and identity.

Since Bluesky’s public launch in 2024, the company has consistently promised an ad-free, user-controlled experience to provide creators with a community of dynamic media and discussion.

The company is exploring other methods of growth and monetisation strategies like paid subscription services and advertisements, with the aim to make business decisions that align with the platform’s user-centric values.

Toni also acknowledges the work of the developers behind Bluesky, saying that open platforms can only grow when third-party builders are in charge of their construction. 

He states that the company will focus on earning developer trust as Bluesky works towards a fully decentralised system.

Discussing the future of company operations, Jay adds: “I'm excited to dig into the next frontier of what decentralized social can be, while bringing Toni in to support our team as an experienced operator and leader. 

“The work that got us here was just the beginning, and I'm grateful to keep building alongside this team and community.”