Another One Bites the Dust: Chinese Twitter Boss Leaves After Just Seven Months
The head of Twitter’s Chinese operations, Kathy Chen, has announced she is leaving the company, making her the first top executive to resign from the company in 2017.
Chen was hired by Twitter in April 2016 as Managing Director for Twitter’s Chinese operations, having previously worked for companies including Microsoft and Cisco. However, her credentials were immediately questioned by Chinese free speech activists after it was revealed she had previously worked for the Chinese military.
She wrote on Twitter that it was the “right time to leave the company,” following a restructuring of Twitter’s Asian operations that allows them to work directly with Chinese advertisers.
7/12 Now that the Twitter APAC team is working directly with Chinese advertisers, this is the right time for me to leave the company.
— Kathy Chen (@kathychen2016) December 31, 2016
Although Twitter is currently blocked in China, many Chinese businesses still advertise on the site, and it is also popular with many Chinese dissidents living across the world.
8/12 I'm proud to have helped build a successful Great China business for Twitter and thank @shaileshrao & @alizaknox for the opportunity.
— Kathy Chen (@kathychen2016) December 31, 2016
Chen joins a long list of top Twitter executives who left the company last year. Some of the most important figures to leave included Twitter’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Adam Messinger, Chief Operating Officer (COO) Adam Bain and the company’s vice president of finance Todd Morgenfield.
As well as losing key figures in the business, Twitter also faced tumbling stock prices and political controversy throughout 2016.
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