Trouble At Twitter? Key Players Leave After $800 Million Funding Round

Following a massive $800 million round of funding, Twitter board members Bijan Sabet and Fred Wilson, two of the company’s earliest investors, have both stepped down. It’s the latest in a series of big employee changes at Twitter that have taken place since founder member Jack Dorsey resumed control of the company back in March. Half of Twitter’s $800 million funding went to cash out the holdings of early investors, which included Union Square Ventures (USV), the venture capital firm owned by Wilson. USV has kept an undisclosed stake in Twitter. “Bijan Sabet and Fred Wilson both played important and greatly appreciated roles in our success,” announced Twitter in a statement. “Both saw what Twitter could become before most anyone else. We look forward to their continued input as both investors in the company and passionate users of the product.” On Thursday, Twitter Chief Scientist Abdur Chowdbury also quit the organization, announcing his departure with a tweet. Despite its relatively short history Twitter has been plagued with allegations of betrayal and board infighting. In July, Jack Dorsey, in his new role as executive chairman, showed four key Twitter product managers the door. Twitter co-founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams (as well as ex-VP Jason Goldman) have also recently left their roles at the company to focus on their Obvious project, although Williams remains on the board. Stone works as an advisor at Sabet’s company, Spark Capital. Yeah, it’s pretty incestuous stuff. Other than Dorsey and Williams, Twitter’s remaining board members are Dick Costolo, Peter Fenton, Peter Currie, David Rosenblatt, and Mike McCue. The $400 million left from the funding round should allow Twitter to power-up its business model and introduce some new features to the 5-year old platform. When and where any of this will arrive is anybody’s guess, but it might be a good idea to spend some of that cash on getting their house in order before focusing on anything else.

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Trouble At Twitter? Key Players Leave After $800 Million Funding Round

Shea Bennett

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Shea Bennett