Twitter Names New Finance Chief -- WSJ
July 12 2017 - 3:02AM
Dow Jones News
By Georgia Wells
This article is being republished as part of our daily
reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S.
print edition of The Wall Street Journal (July 12, 2017).
Twitter Inc. tapped a former close colleague of No. 2 executive
Anthony Noto to be its new finance chief, as it addresses a list of
vacancies created at the social-messaging company over the past
year.
Ned Segal will start as Twitter's chief financial officer in
late August, the company said Tuesday. He most recently worked for
financial-software producer Intuit Inc., where he was senior vice
president of finance for the $2.5 billion division that delivers
QuickBooks to customers. Before that he was finance chief of RPX
Corp., a small San Francisco-based company that helps clients
manage patent-related risks.
Prior to that, Mr. Segal spent nearly 17 years at Goldman Sachs
Group Inc., where he worked closely with Mr. Noto, whom he will
replace as finance chief. Mr. Noto has held two jobs at Twitter
since becoming its chief operating officer in November following
the departure of longtime executive Adam Bain. Mr. Noto now will
act solely as COO, the company said.
Bringing in a former colleague to fill a key role could help
solidify Mr. Noto's influence. He has taken on increasing
responsibility since joining Twitter three years ago, after stints
including head of technology, media and telecom investment banking
at Goldman and as finance chief for the National Football
League.
Twitter said its entire management team participated in the
search for a new finance chief, meeting with several candidates,
though Chief Executive Jack Dorsey made the final decision. Mr.
Segal "brings a principled, engaging and rigorous approach to the
CFO role, with a track record of driving profitable growth," Mr.
Dorsey said in a statement.
Twitter has struggled for years to translate its popularity into
profit. For the first quarter of this year it reported declining
revenue for the first time since its initial public offering in
2013, despite a series of turnaround measures announced after Mr.
Dorsey, a co-founder, returned as CEO in late 2015.
More than a dozen executives and leaders have left Twitter in
the past 12 months, including Chief Technologist Adam Messinger,
Vice President of Product Josh McFarland and Vice President of
Finance Celia Poon.
In May, Mr. Dorsey's co-founder, Biz Stone, said he was
rejoining Twitter to focus on its culture and work on conveying
elements of Twitter's culture externally.
Mr. Segal's annual salary will be $500,000, and he will receive
about 795,000 shares of Twitter's stock, in addition to more shares
if the company meets certain metrics, Twitter said in a filing.
Twitter's stock, which ended trading Tuesday up 3.1%, was flat
after hours following the announcement.
The shares have gained ground this year, but remain at less than
a third of their peak value shortly after their IPO.
Intuit said in a statement: "In line with our values, we support
employee mobility in and out of Intuit."
Intuit's finance chief, R. Neil Williams, said Mr. Segal leaves
behind many fans at the company. "I have known Ned for almost 10
years and I believe his intellect and energy level will be a big
asset at Twitter," Mr. Williams said in an email.
--Kimberly S. Johnson contributed to this article
Write to Georgia Wells at Georgia.Wells@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 12, 2017 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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