Bluesky names interim head Toni Schneider as permanent CEO

Toni Schneider has officially dropped his interim status to become Bluesky’s permanent chief executive, after serving as interim CEO for the past four months. “Most importantly, as of today, the interim part of the title is gone. I’m loving the mission and the job, and I’m all in as Bluesky’s official CEO,” Schneider wrote on his personal blog on Friday.

Schneider, a partner at True Ventures (a venture capital firm) and founding CEO of Automattic (the company behind WordPress and Tumblr), took over from Jay Graber, who stepped down as Bluesky’s CEO in March to become the company’s chief innovation officer. Both Automattic and True Ventures are investors in Bluesky. Under Graber’s leadership, the platform grew to 43 million users, and its underlying AT Protocol network expanded significantly.

Bluesky was originally spun off from Twitter, becoming a destination for users seeking to avoid the changes Elon Musk brought to that platform after he took it over in 2022 — the site was later renamed X and is now a subsidiary of Musk’s combination rocket and AI company, SpaceXAI. Bluesky saw a sharp rise in users following Donald Trump’s re-election, but appears to have seen a drop-off since then. Some have questioned whether the platform is dying, pointing to apparent declines in both engagement and its overall community of users.

Against that backdrop, Schneider said he wants to build smaller, more private community spaces, a shift he believes could help unlock the platform’s next wave of growth and innovation. He also signaled confidence about what comes next, telling readers that Bluesky is only at the beginning of its story.

Why it matters

Schneider’s permanent appointment comes at a critical juncture for Bluesky, which must now prove it can sustain long-term engagement and transition from a temporary refuge from X into a self-sustaining mainstream platform.