Twitter’s search for a chief marketing officer has been ongoing for many months and now in the wake of a disappointing earnings call, it appears the firm’s chief financial officer will be charged with the task, according to The Verge.
- Anthony Noto, Twitter’s CFO is said to be the one to take on the marketing reins. He’s had some public flubs in the past year, erroneously making an intended direct message about an acquisition offer public, and later having his Twitter account hacked. Noto was on the most recent earnings call with CEO Dick Costolo, during which the executives shared bad news. Twitter’s stock took a dive afterwards.
- Twitter has seen several executives departing the company as of late, with chief operating officer Ali Rowghani among them. Twitter’s head of news, Vivian Schiller, also left the company in October after just 10 months. April Underwood and Chloe Sladden are other recent departures.
It’s unusual for a CFO to be handed marketing responsibilites and there’s no reason to think Noto is different from your average CFO. The move may be a signal Twitter is in some amount of distress, or at least having quite a difficult time finding the right person for the job. It’s possible this is a stop gap measure until an executive with subject matter expertise is recruited.