When Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey was named permanent CEO of the company this past October, it was assumed there would be some growing pains. Now, about three months in, Dorsey’s tenure has already been rockier than most would have initially anticipated. Earlier this month, shares of Twitter dropped below $20 for the first time in company history, with the stock now trading in the $17 range.
Even more worrisome, however, is that four of the company’s top executives recently indicated their intention to jump ship. Set to leave are Twitter product chief Kevin Weil, head of engineering Alex Oretter, VP of global media Katie Jacobs Stanton, and VP of human resources Skip Schipper.
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While employee, and even executive turnover isn’t a phenomenon unique to Twitter, four key executives leaving a company simultaneously is extremely rare, if not wholly unprecedented. As a result, Dorsey took to Twitter on Monday at midnight to address the departures and assure everyone that the company is still running smoothly.
“All four will be taking some well-deserved time off,” Dorsey explained. “I’m personally grateful to each of them for everything they’ve contributed to Twitter and our purpose in the world.”
Stepping up in their absence, Dorsey said that COO Adam Bain “will be taking on additional responsibilities” and that CTO Adam Messinger, for now, will assume control over all of the company’s engineering and consumer product, design and research, and user services.
And just when things this weekend didn’t seem like they could get any worse, Vine general manager Jason Toff took to Twitter late on Sunday to say that he was also leaving Twitter to take on a position at Google where he will focus on VR work.
Personal update! I’m joining Google to work on VR. So much exciting potential there.
— Jason Toff (@jasontoff) January 25, 2016
Dorsey’s full tweet regarding the company’s mass executive exodus can be read below.
Was really hoping to talk to Twitter employees about this later this week, but want to set the record straight now: pic.twitter.com/PcpRyTzOlW
— Jack (@jack) January 25, 2016
