GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke to step down, pursue new venture

GitHub Chief Executive Officer Thomas Dohmke is stepping down to pursue his “next adventure”—a new startup. This marks the end of a period during which he guided the Microsoft-owned code-hosting platform into the age of copilots and AI.

“... After all this time, my startup roots have begun tugging on me and I’ve decided to leave GitHub to become a founder again,” Dohmke said in a blog post. “GitHub and its leadership team will continue its mission as part of Microsoft’s CoreAI organization.”

“I’ll be staying through the end of 2025 to help guide the transition and am leaving with a deep sense of pride in everything we’ve built as a remote-first organization spread around the world,” added Dohmke, who has been with GitHub for nearly seven years, including almost four years as its CEO.

More than ten years ago, after selling his startup to Microsoft, Dohmke moved with his family from Germany to the United States. He worked on mobile developer tools, helped manage Microsoft’s acquisition of GitHub with Nat Friedman, and later became GitHub’s CEO.

Even after Microsoft's acquisition of GitHub in 2018 for $7.5 billion, the platform operated with considerable independence for several years. However, GitHub is now being integrated more closely with Microsoft’s CoreAI division. Microsoft reportedly does not plan to appoint a new CEO for GitHub.

Under Dohmke, GitHub solidified its position as a key platform for over 150 million developers. Dohmke noted that GitHub currently hosts over 1 billion repositories and forks, and GitHub Copilot serves around 20 million users, reflecting the platform’s significant scale and reach.