Twitter's COO Departure A 'Significant Operational Challenge'

Anthony Noto, considered perhaps to be Twitter Inc TWTR's most visible executive aside from CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey, quit his post as COO of the social media company to accept the role of CEO of Social Finance, a financial technology company.

The Analyst

KeyBanc Capital Markets Andy Hargreaves maintains a Sector Weight rating on Twitter's stock with no assigned price target.

The Thesis

Noto played a "critical role" in overseeing Twitter's strategy and managing the company's operations, Hargreaves said in a brief note. Since Dorsey splits his time between Twitter and Square Inc SQ, Noto's departure no creates a "significant operational challenge" and could serve as a signal that Twitter's ongoing turnaround will be more difficult to execute than investors had hoped.

Twitter will likely begin searching for a replacement immediately even though Noto will assume his new job at SoFi in March, Hargeaves said. It's unclear at this point if the company will look for a replacement internally or externally. In the interim, Noto's responsibilities will be delegated between Twitter's VP of Global Revenue and Operations Matt Derella, who will continue working on the advertising sales efforts.

Price Action

Shares of Twitter were trading higher by around 0.5 percent ahead of Wednesday's market open.

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