Google veteran Omid Kordestani named Twitter executive chairman

Twitter announced on Wednesday that it had named Google’s former chief business officer Omid Kordestani as its executive chairman, in a further shakeup of its top ranks.

The announcement came a day after Twitter said it will cut about 8 percent of its global workforce. This move intends to slash costs as the company struggles to make money. He succeeded Jack Dorsey, who stepped down as Executive Chairman to take up the post of Chief Executive Officer of Twitter. He says Kordestani is a proven and experienced leader that will coach him and help recruit the best people to Twitter.

“An excellent chairperson is the initial step towards continuing to produce our board among the finest in the planet, and objective built to serve Twitter”, Mr Dorsey tweeted. Kordestani, on the other hand, will play a significant role in operations, supporting the leadership team and helping with recruiting, The New York Times reported.

Meanwhile, analysts said that Kordestani’s extensive sales experience could be beneficial to Twitter cofounder Dorsey’s product knowledge and vision. From last summer, he was advisor to Alphabet but his position was eliminated because of Google’s restructuring.

A spokesman from Twitter told Reuters that Kordestani, most recently a senior adviser at Google, will be joining Twitter’s board of directors and have an operational role in the company. He’s credited for being one of the reasons behind the higher revenues of the search giant. He also received a bonus of $5 million when he returned as chief business officer.

“Omid was instrumental in establishing Google’s business and helped us develop really close, longstanding partnerships across the industry”. In a tweet, the Iranian-American Kordestani said: “It’s rare you get to be at a company with an unbelievable business that’s also transforming the world”.