Kevin Weil, Twitter’s former VP of product who was among the group of executives who left the company over the weekend, has a new job: Head of Product at Facebook-owned Instagram.
Former Twitter Product Head Kevin Weil Is Joining Instagram
Kevin Weil, Twitter’s former VP of product, has a new job.
Asa Mathat
That’s according to multiple sources, who claim Weil was recruited by Instagram for months before announcing his departure from Twitter late Sunday night. The timing makes sense. Peter Deng has been Instagram’s head of product for the past two-plus years and jumped to another Facebook property, Oculus, earlier this month. So the head of product position is (temporarily) vacant.
An Instagram spokesperson declined to comment.
The move is a bit of salt in the wound for Twitter, which is already losing a number of key executives, and now has at least one headed to a direct competitor. Contrary to numerous reports, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said Sunday night that all of Twitter’s executive departures were resignations, including Weil’s. If Instagram was indeed recruiting Weil for months, that seems to support Dorsey’s message. It may also be why sources inside the company tell Re/code that it appeared Weil’s responsibilities were scaled back following company-wide layoffs in October.
Weil wasn’t the only executive to leave on his own accord. According to numerous sources, VP of Engineering Alex Roetter and Media boss Katie Stanton also resigned, and were not fired as numerous stories claim. Both execs had been at Twitter for more than five years. Roetter apparently alerted Dorsey of his decision to leave sometime after the company’s reorg late last year.
We assume Weil will report to Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom in his new role. We do not have an idea when he is expected to start, but it certainly won’t be this week. According to an SEC filing from Tuesday, Weil and Roetter are set to stay at the company until Jan. 29 and Feb. 4, respectively.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
