Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP) chief financial officer, Tim Stone, has not served the company even for a year, but he is resigning. The high-profile executive joined Snap eight months ago after moving from Amazon. According to Snap, the CFO is leaving the company in pursuit of other personal interests. Stone’s exit has raised serious concerns. It comes at a very sensitive time when the company is reportedly struggling to reclaim its user base as well as stock.
Stone is the second finance chief to depart from Snapchat within a year. In the recent past, the company has experienced massive departures of high-level executives. They include that of the human resources chief, Jason Halbert, the marketing VP Steve LaBella and Chief Strategy Officer Imran Khan.
Snapchat has switched from a wave of excitement to skepticism
The exit by Stone has caused havoc within the company. Shares of Snap suffered significantly falling up to 9 percent. The company will also have to face stiff competition having lost an experienced hand in the industry. In the last 2years, Snap has lost close to 65% of its value on the New York Stock Exchange.
According to Summit Insights Group analyst Jonathan Kees the company is moving from a glorious to a sorry state. “We believe that (Stone’s) departure will be a big negative on the company and hamper its execution and ability to compete in the marketplace,” Kees says.
Nonetheless, Snap’s Chief Executive Evan Spiegel acknowledges that they have gained so much from Stone’s presence and management.
The inside story about Stone’s resignation from Snap
There are contradictory speculations to why the executive left Snapchat and within such a short period. Part of the speculations has it that there were a disagreement and denial of a request Stone had made to the board. According to Bloomberg, he had requested for a raise and the board’s denial may have triggered the swift departure.
However, in an SEC filing, the company seems to claim non – the existence of any disagreement on any matter. It has reiterated to any negative speculations citing that Stone’s transition was just normal. Meanwhile, he will stay on board until the end of the company’s Q4 and full-year earnings call slated for February 5th.