Michael Sippey, Twitter’s vice president of product, announced on Friday he would be leaving his position, transitioning into an advisory role and eventually leaving the company.
Twitter Product VP Michael Sippey to Leave the Company
A high-level departure for the microblogging service.
Asa Mathat
“Over the past few weeks I’ve talked with Dick and Ali about what I want next in my career, and what Twitter needs at this stage of its life,” Sippey wrote in a blog post. “And I’ve decided that it’s time for me to move on.”
In his post, Sippey said he will be helping Twitter to find a new head of product over the next few months, as well as helping Twitter’s product team on its roadmap over the next year. He hasn’t said what his future plans are.
The move comes after a tumultuous year for Twitter’s product team, which sources said has faced challenges trying to ship any significant changes to Twitter’s products.
There was tension, sources said, between the goals of the revenue and consumer product teams. According to multiple sources, members of the executive ranks were concerned about any sweeping change to Twitter’s consumer product and whether it would affect Twitter’s ability to make money from ads. Twitter has been ramping up quite well over the past year.
The consumer product team, in particular, has been slow to change, in part due to indecision from some of the group’s leaders.
Late last year, Sippey, who once reported directly to CEO Dick Costolo and the board of directors, was moved into a subordinate position under Twitter COO Ali Rowghani. Sippey was blamed for Twitter’s flagging growth problem. Costolo personally poached Google employee Christian Oestlien to help fix the company’s product problem and lead the company’s international growth team, a division which sources said has churned through leadership and failed to deliver on its goals.
Multiple sources said Sippey’s departure is likely due in part to the influence of Rowghani, whose power inside the company has grown increasingly over the past year.
Shares of Twitter were trading up two percent at $62 per share at the close of business day.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
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