By Yoree Koh And Dana Mattioli
Twitter Inc.'s financial chief Anthony Noto is bringing in help
on the finance side as he takes on the added role of heading the
social media service's marketing department.
Twitter has hired five new senior-level finance
managers--including Todd Morgenfeld from Hewlett-Packard Co. and
former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive Steve McGuinness--to
streamline the teams reporting to Mr. Noto, according to people
familiar with the matter. Mr. Noto announced the new hires to his
team on Tuesday afternoon.
The announcement comes on the same day news leaked that Mr. Noto
has brought the marketing team under his jurisdiction from the
product department. The unusual move highlights the former Goldman
Sachs banker's growing influence within the company less than a
year after he joined.
The changes also come as Twitter's management, led by Chief
Executive Dick Costolo, has come under fire from investors after
missing revenue estimates last month. Mr. Noto ascribed the
first-quarter shortfall to a "demand issue" with its advertising
products that resemble tweets and allow users click on them and
take an action, such as downloading an app or watching a video.
Twitter's stock has fallen 28% to $37.42 since the day before that
earnings report.
Mr. Noto, who last year earned nearly $73 million, mostly in
stock compensation, from Twitter, has a strong voice within the
company, spearheading partnerships such as Twitter's recent search
deal with Google Inc. and leading an acquisition attempt of news
site Mic News, according to the people familiar with the
matter.
The marketing department has drifted within Twitter as the
company has struggled to explain the service to the masses even
with its mainstream media exposure. In recent months, Twitter has
sought a chief marketing officer, a search that continues,
according to one of these people. In January, the team was quietly
moved from the purview of Twitter's chief communications officer,
Gabriel Stricker, to under Twitter's vice president of product
Kevin Weil in January.
Now, less than six months later, the marketing team will report
up to Mr. Noto.
The Verge earlier reported news of his new marketing role.
Mr. Noto's finance hires--a new chief accounting officer, two
vice presidents and two directors--will be slotted in as a new
level of management, taking on some of the teams that had been
reporting directly to Mr. Noto. The number of people reporting to
Mr. Noto will decline to seven from 11.
Mr. Morgenfeld will join as vice president of finance, leaving
Hewlett-Packard where he was senior vice president of treasury,
financial analytics and corporate development. He will be taking on
a similar role at Twitter where he will be in charge of corporate
development, real estate, treasury and infrastructure.
He is a seasoned finance executive with stints at Mr. Noto's
former employer, Goldman Sachs, and Silver Lake, where he worked on
the private-equity firm's buyout offer for Dell Inc.
Mr. McGuinness, another Goldman alum, joins Twitter as vice
president of global and finance operations. Mr. Noto has known Mr.
McGuinness since their Goldman days where the latter was a 19-year
veteran.
Mr. McGuinness served as co-chief operating officer of Goldman's
investment management arm and co-led the bank's special-situations
group, which used Goldman's own capital to place bets on credit and
distressed investments. He has spent the last three years at
Strategic Value Partners LLC, which specializes in distressed-debt
investments. At Twitter, Mr. McGuinness will be in charge of areas
such as payroll, equity, employee support and security.
Two other finance managers, Amy Johnson of Google and Greg
Ligotti of Peet's Coffee Tea Inc., will serve as directors on Mr.
McGuinness's finance operations team.
Twitter is also getting a new chief accounting officer. Deloitte
Touche veteran Robert Kaiden replaces Luca Baratta, who stepped
down from that role in March, according to a Twitter security
filing.
Dana Cimilluca contributed to this article.
Write to Yoree Koh at yoree.koh@wsj.com and Dana Mattioli at
dana.mattioli@wsj.com
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