Two top Twitter executives — Jana Messerschmidt, the head of business development, and Nathan Hubbard, head of media and commerce — are planning to leave the company, according to multiple sources familiar with their plans.
It's unclear exactly when the execs will leave, but as a result of the moves Twitter has tapped one person to take over both roles, according to sources. Ali Jafari, the VP running Twitter's Amplify video advertising business, will take over media, business development and Amplify as one unified partnerships organization, according to sources.
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The idea is that many Twitter marketing partners work with all three teams, and aligning them under Jafari might help streamline certain projects and partnerships.
A company spokesperson confirmed the departures and Jafari's new role, but declined to comment further.
Messerschmidt is leaving on her own accord, according to multiple sources. She has been at Twitter for six years — a lifetime for a Twitter exec — and handled all of the company's relationships with outside partners, including Google. She also already invests outside of the company as part of the #Angels investing team created by a number of current and former female Twitter executives last year.
News of Hubbard's departure comes a day after BuzzFeed reported Twitter had disbanded its commerce team and stopped work on their "Buy" button efforts, which allow users to purchase items directly from a tweet.
The timing of Hubbard's departure, however, is coincidental. That's because the commerce team was actually disbanded way back in October, according to multiple sources, when Twitter laid off 8 percent of its workforce in a massive company reorg.
The writing on the wall started several months before that, when Twitter began pulling some engineering resources from the commerce group to work on advertising products that could provide near-term revenue growth amid Wall Street pressure. While Twitter is still working on commerce-related efforts like customer service tools and product ads, it didn't accomplish in commerce what many expected when it hired someone with Hubbard's level of experience. The former Ticketmaster CEO joined Twitter to lead these commerce efforts back in 2013.
Hubbard was then asked in January to run Twitter's media team after then-VP of Media Katie Stanton left the company. Some Twitter executives hoped Hubbard would stay on to run that group and also take on Messerschmidt's responsibilities when it was clear she was leaving. But Hubbard has told confidantes he plans to start his own company, according to a former colleague.
For Twitter, these are the most high-profile departures since a group of four VPs, including Stanton and Twitter's head of product and engineering, all left at the same time in early January. The company has a long reputation for operating an executive carousel.
CEO Jack Dorsey, who has said that recruiting is his top priority, has added a few executives in that time, including CMO Leslie Berland, head of communications Natalie Kerris and a handful of new board members. But now, with the stock near an all-time low, he's losing a few more key players.
As part of the change, Gnip CEO Chris Moody, who was reporting to Messerschmidt, will now report directly to Twitter COO Adam Bain along with Jafari.
Additional reporting by Kara Swisher.