Dive Brief:
- Twilio, a customer engagement platform provider, appointed Khozema Shipchandler CEO, the company announced Monday. Shipchandler is a longtime Twilio executive.
- Shipchandler succeeds co-founder Jeff Lawson, who said Monday he was stepping down as CEO and as chairman of the board of directors.
- “As I step into the CEO role, I am focused on continuing to build on the considerable growth and operating improvements we’ve made across the board, plus taking a fresh look at the areas of the business that are underperforming to realize the full potential of our business,” Shipchandler said in a prepared statement.
Dive Insight:
The appointment of Shipchandler and departure of Lawson come as two activist investors have pressured Twilio to make drastic changes.
The company has gone through multiple rounds of restructuring and layoffs. In December, the company laid off 5% of its employees, with cuts mostly to its data and applications business, a segment activist investors were eager to divest.
Anson Funds portfolio manager Sagar Gupta, one of the activist investors, said he was pleased with the departure of Lawson, according to CNBC. But the company doesn’t appear to be in the clear yet.
“That said, we believe that more actions are needed to maximize value for shareholders,” Gupta said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing to engage with Twilio’s Board and management team going forward.”
Twilio said it expects better than forecasted fourth quarter results. The company ended Q3 with $1.03 billion in revenue, up 5% year-over-year, according to a Q3 earnings statement released in November.
