Twitter may lose one of its top executives to online personal finance startup SoFi, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday, citing sources who claim its Chief Financial Officer Anthony Noto has been offered the position of a Chief Executive Officer at the San Francisco, California-based company. Mr. Noto is presently in the process of considering the proposal and will make a final decision on the matter in the coming days, insiders claim. The Goldman Sachs veteran is close to concluding his third full year as Twitter CFO and has largely been spearheading the social media giant’s efforts to turn into a profitable business which are now closer to yielding results than ever before; the company posted a $21 million loss over the third quarter of 2017 and expects to record a bottom line profit in Q4. Its consolidated financial report for the final quarter of the previous year should be released next month.
Founded in the summer of 2011, SoFi lacked a CEO since mid-September after its co-founder Mike Cagney resigned following a lawsuit against the company which alleged a predatory corporate culture at the startup, specifically mentioning gender-based harassment and discrimination. Mr. Cagney wasn’t personally accused of harassment but the lawsuit suggests he did little to stop it despite being aware of it. Executive Chairman Tom Hutton took over as interim CEO but SoFi’s search for a long-term replacement is still ongoing, according to recent reports. With SoFi allowing its employees to sell a fifth of their vested options in the company last summer, many industry watchers started speculating an initial public offering is on the horizon for one of the most valuable startups in the United States which is estimated to be worth north of $4.3 billion based on its series F funding round from early 2017.
Strong leadership with a defined vision will be a must should the company be looking to go public in the near future and convince the public markets it has the potential to be successful in the long term. Mr. Noto spearheaded Twitter’s transformation into a video-focused social platform that’s still ongoing and is part of the company’s efforts to carve a sustainable niche for itself. Going forward, Twitter expects to be competing with other streaming platforms in the living room, according to Mr. Noto’s recent comments predicting the extinction of Chromecast, Fire TV Stick, and other single-purpose streaming gadgets half a decade from now.