Twitter Inc CFO Mike Gupta’s Move From Zynga Inc Paid Off Well

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Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR)’s chief financial officer Mike Gupta’s move from Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) has paid off very well. According to the microblogging company’s proxy statement filed with the SEC, Gupta earned $24.6 million in 2013. Of that, $241,667 was in the form of salary, and the rest in stock awards. He worked as treasurer of Zynga before moving to Twitter in December 2012.

Twitter CEO’s annual salary cut to $14,000

On the other hand, Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) CEO Dick Costolo brought in just $130,250 in 2013. He didn’t receive any new stock awards, and his annual salary was slashed to $14,000 effective August 2013, Twitter said in the proxy statement. Costolo still owns 8.2 million shares or a 1.4% stake in the San Francisco-based company. Moreover, he had earned a whopping $11.5 million in 2012, mostly in the form of stock and option grants.

Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) general counsel Vijaya Gadde took home more than $15.1 million, which came mostly through stock awards. But 2013 definitely belonged to Mike Gupta. At the end of 2013, he also had unvested Twitter shares valued at over $85 million. The company went public in November 2013, and Gupta is hailed as the architect of Twitter’s public offering.

Twitter raises Gupta’s base salary

The Wall Street Journal says that Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR)’s IPO was handled by a man who has a knack for finding calm amid chaos. Mike Gupta had to find a balance with investors and analysts, offering ambitious projections without setting targets that might have been difficult to achieve. Also, he had to avoid the missteps that haunted Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s botched IPO.

Before joining Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA), Mike Gupta worked at Yahoo! Inc (NASDAQ:YHOO) between 2003 and 2011. Twitter Inc said it has now raised his base salary to $250,000. Though shares of the microblogging company have fallen about 26% over the past three months, the stock is still up almost two-thirds from its $26 offering price.

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Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) shares plunged 1.91% to $41.68 at 12:20 PM EDT on Thursday.

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