GitHub CEO announces departure

GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke has announced that he will leave the company at the end of 2025 to launch a new venture.

In a note to staff, Dohmke said his "startup roots have begun tugging" at him, prompting his decision to return to building something from scratch. He plans to remain for the next year to ensure a smooth handover.

Dohmke added on the note that during his tenure, GitHub's developer community grew to more than 150 million users, while its AI coding assistant Copilot expanded to over 20 million users. GitHub will remain under Microsoft's CoreAI division, though Dohmke's successor has not yet been named.

According to a CNBC report, Dohmke's journey with Microsoft began in 2015 when it acquired his mobile app analytics startup, HockeyApp. Three years later, Microsoft bought GitHub for $7.5 billion, and by mid-2021, Dohmke had joined the platform as chief product officer. Within months, he replaced Nat Friedman as CEO.