Former Twitter Product Head Kevin Weil Joins Facebook-Owned Instagram: Reports

Former Twitter executive Kevin Weil, who led product development at the micro-blogging website, is set to join Facebook Inc.’s Instagram with a similar job profile, reports cited sources Tuesday. Weil’s resignation was announced late Sunday by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, along with those of three other top executives who left the troubled social network.

Weil, who joined Twitter seven years ago, will report to Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom when he starts work at the photo-sharing application, Bloomberg reported, citing a source. Twitter and Facebook did not comment on Weil’s transition. His move to Instagram was first reported by technology website Re/code.

The news of Weil’s departure came after recent reports said he and some other senior officials at the company were asked to leave, the New York Times reported. However, Dorsey claimed the departures were voluntary. Weil had decided to join Instagram long before he announced he was quitting his job at Twitter, the Times reported, citing a source.

At Twitter, Weil reportedly helped develop the company’s advertising product strategy before taking over the role of heading all its products in 2014. Twitter currently has 320 million active users while Instagram’s active users amount to over 400 million.

On Sunday, Dorsey also announced the departures of Senior Vice President of Engineering Alex Roetter, Vice President of Global Media Katie Jacobs Stanton and HR Vice President Skip Schipper. Dorsey had also said Sunday that the company’s current Chief Operating Officer Adam Bain will take over further responsibilities that include “revenue-related product teams.”

On Tuesday, the Twitter CEO announced that the company had named former American Express Co. executive Leslie Berland as its chief marketing officer, according to Bloomberg.

Dorsey took over as Twitter’s CEO on Oct. 5 and has repeatedly said that making the site easier to use will be a priority under his leadership. However, the stock markets have not favored Dorsey, who was also one of the co-founders of Twitter. According to a report Monday, the company’s stock has plunged 37 percent since Dorsey took over as CEO.

Earlier this year, Instagram’s former product, Peter Deng, joined Oculus — Facebook’s virtual reality technology company — according to a report in Forbes.