Twitter Inc Loses ‘Most Competent Person,’ But Stock Still Up

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Twitter Chief Operating Officer Adam Bain has decided to quit the company to explore other opportunities, the micro-blogging company informed investors and the media on Wednesday. Bain is credited with building a robust advertising business for the company, even though it was struggling with user growth.

Twitter loses “most competent person”

Twitter said that Chief Financial Officer Anthony Noto will replace Bain, and it has begun the search for a new CFO. Noto, who became the finance chief in 2014, will still manage the live content business and global advertising sales, data and mobile ad exchange MoPub, says Reuters.

“Mr. Bain will remain at Twitter in the coming weeks to assist with the transition of the chief operating officer role,” the company said.

Bain joined the micro-blogging company in 2010 when it had almost no revenue. Bain then instilled a new life in the company by building an advertising sales machine that generated $2.2 billion in revenue last year, says Reuters. His popularity even made him a preferred choice to become Twitter’s chief executive, and in October 2015, he was named COO.

Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said, “I think Adam Bain is the most competent person at Twitter. The one part of the business that actually worked was the part he works on, which is advertising.”

Twitter is struggling a lot with user growth and revenue and has hired bankers to find acquisition offers. But as of now, there are no potential bidders interested in buying the company. It said last month that it intends to keep costs down, and for this purpose, it has decided to cut its global workforce by 9%.

How the elections and Trump benefited Twitter

Amid this sad news, there was one bit of good news too for the company. Twitter stock surged more than 3% on Wednesday – thanks to the elections and Donald Trump. According to USA Today, more than 75 million tweets had been sent through the platform by 3 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday, breaking the record of 31 million tweets sent in 2012 Election Day.

Trump made full use of his Twitter account during his presidential campaign. He often shared news for the first time through a tweet, and this made Twitter’s surge more notable. Using his account, Trump even picked up fights with figures like Alicia Machado, a former Miss Universe. Also he used the platform to promote incorrect theories that President Barack Obama was not born in the U.S.

On Wednesday, Twitter shares closed up 4.08% at $19.13. Year to date, the stock is down more than 17%, while in the last year, it is down more than 32%.

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