Twitter Inc. (ticker: TWTR) shares traded higher by more than 3.4 percent on Wednesday morning after the company announced it has hired Intuit (INTU) vice president of finance and former Goldman Sachs Group (GS) banker Ned Segal as its new chief financial officer. TWTR stock owners are hoping Segal can provide a shot in the arm for Twitter’s finances. In the most recent quarter, Twitter reported its first year-over-year revenue decline since going public back in 2013.
Segal has more than 20 years of experience in finance, including 17 years in various roles at Goldman Sachs.
“Ned’s experience in financial operations as a public company and business unit CFO, along with his background serving technology companies and investors, are an ideal fit for Twitter as we work to extend our positive momentum, continue growing our audience and achieve greater operating efficiency,” Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey says. “He brings a principled, engaging and rigorous approach to the CFO role, with a track record of driving profitable growth.”
Segal will replace current Twitter CFO Anthony Noto, who will maintain his role as chief operating officer.
JMP analyst Ronald Josey says the addition of Segal will help lighten the workloads of Noto, Dorsey and other key players at Twitter.
“Since November 2016, COO Anthony Noto has been filling both the CFO and COO roles, and with the appointment of Mr. Segal, we believe it will give Mr. Noto more bandwidth to focus on monetization, building out Live Video, and core product improvements,” Josey wrote on Tuesday.
Segal is the latest hire by TWTR as the company attempts to replace a number of key executives that left in recent years. In May, the company announced the return of co-founder Biz Stone, who it expects to help “guide the company culture.”
Despite a surprise uptick in active users in the first quarter and the addition of Stone and Segal, Josey says Twitter still has a lot to prove before it becomes a compelling long-term investment opportunity.
“While we are encouraged by the company’s continued development of Live Video, an improving product experience, and more recent [daily active user] trends, we believe it is early in Twitter’s turnaround related to advertiser demand, such that the risk/reward in shares remains balanced at current levels,” he wrote.
Investors certainly seem…
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