San Francisco, California – Twilio, a cloud communications platform, saw a 6.4% increase in its stock following the announcement of a change in leadership. Co-founder Jeff Lawson revealed in a blog post that he will be stepping down as CEO and handing over the reins to Khozema Shipchandler, a longtime executive at Twilio. Shipchandler will also join the board of directors as part of the transition.
Lawson’s departure from the company’s board also means a change in leadership there, with Jeff Epstein, a current board member and partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, taking over as chairman. Shipchandler expressed his excitement about his new role, and hinted at the company’s plan to evaluate its underperforming businesses, aligning with the demands of activist investors.
However, the change in leadership is not expected to satisfy activist investment groups Anson Funds and Legion Partners, who have been pressuring Twilio to either sell itself or divest its data and applications business. These groups have been persistent in their demand despite Twilio’s efforts to ward them off through its partnership with Qatalyst Partners.
Sagar Gupta, portfolio manager at Anson Funds, acknowledged the leadership change but called for further actions to maximize shareholder value. Gupta had helped build Legion Partners’ stake in Twilio and added to his position when he joined Anson Funds. Legion Partners has previously stated that more changes are necessary.
Shipchandler’s appointment follows Twilio’s recent layoff of 5% of its employees, focusing on the data and applications division. Despite this, Legion Partners believed that additional changes were still needed. Shipchandler, who has served as Twilio’s CFO and COO, took over the communications division in a corporate restructuring in 2018.
In summary, Twilio has announced a change in leadership, with co-founder Jeff Lawson stepping down as CEO and being replaced by longtime executive Khozema Shipchandler. The company is facing pressure from activist investment groups to sell itself or divest its data and applications business. While the change in leadership has been made, these groups are calling for further actions to maximize shareholder value.