WhatsApp's Chief Business Officer Neeraj Arora quits
New York, Nov 27 : Neeraj Arora, WhatsApp's chief business officer, said he is leaving the popular messaging service, joining a stream of top executives who have departed Facebook and its group companies in the past year.
Arora, an IIT- Delhi alumnus and the number four in the company, was being touted to take over as WhatsApp CEO earlier this year however the role of global head of the company was given to Chris Daniels.
Arora had been with WhatsApp since 2011 and through Facebook's USD 19 billion acquisition of the messaging company in 2014. His exit comes seven months after WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum left the company.
"It is hard to believe that it has been seven years since Jan (Koum) and Brian (Acton) got me onboard at WhatsApp, and it has been one hell of a ride! It is time to move on, but I cannot be more proud of how WhatsApp continues to touch people in so many different ways every day," Arora said in a Facebook post on Monday.
"I am confident that WhatsApp will continue to be the simple, secure and trusted communication product for years to come," he wrote.
Arora's departure comes at a challenging time for WhatsApp, which has been dealing with the growing international problem of users spreading misinformation to large groups of people on the. This year WhatsApp deployed campaigns in top markets like India and Brazil to educate users and help them avoid sending around false information, CNBC said.
In addition to the recent departure of top WhatsApp executives, Facebook has also lost Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger and Oculus co-founder Brendan Iribe in recent months. Alex Stamos, who was Facebook's chief security officer, left in August.
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Denied party funding, Congress Puri LS candidate Sucharita Mohanty returns ticket
Bhubaneswar, May 4: Congress candidate for the Puri Lok Sabha constituency Sucharita Mohanty has declined to contest the elections and returned the party ticket alleging lack of funding from the party.
Mohanty, daughter of former Congress MP Brajamohan Mohanty in a mail to AICC general secretary (organization) K C Venugopal on Friday claimed that her campaign in the Puri Lok Sabha constituency has been hit hard because the party has denied funding.
She alleged that AICC Odisha in-charge Ajoy Kumar "categorically" asked her to fight from her own resources.
Elections to the Puri Lok Sabha constituency will be held on May 25.
"I was a salaried professional journalist who entered electoral politics 10 years ago. I have given all I have into my campaign in Puri. I tried a public donation drive to support my campaign for progressive politics without much success so far. I also tried to cut down the projected campaign spending to the minimum," she said.
As she was not able to raise funds on her own, the Congress leader had approached all senior leaders including the party's central leadership for funds for an impactful campaign in the Puri Lok Sabha constituency.
"It is clear that only fund crunch is holding us back from a winning campaign in Puri. I regret that without party funding, it won't be possible to carry out the campaign in Puri. I, therefore, return the party ticket for the Puri Lok Sabha constituency herewith," she said in her mail to the AICC.
However, Mohanty said she will remain a loyal Congress worker and her leader is Rahul Gandhi.
Speaking to media persons, Mohanty said "I was denied funds from the party. In Assembly segments under the Puri LS constituency, weak candidates were given tickets. BJP and BJD are sitting on mountains of money. Vulgar displays of wealth are everywhere. It was difficult for me to fight the election."
The Congress leader said she wanted a people-oriented campaign but that was also not possible with the lack of funds. The party is also not responsible for that as the BJP government has crippled the party. There are a lot of curbs on expenditure and many bank accounts have been frozen, she added.
AICC in-charge of Odisha, Ajoy Kumar said "Mohanty is saying that no fund provided and weak MLA candidates have been fielded. The party has nominated its best candidate for the MLA seats and funds will be provided to a candidate when the candidate launches the campaign and seriously fights at the ground."
Before coming to the ground, she (Mohanty) has alleged that no funds were given. But, at the time when she was requesting a party ticket, Mohanty had said that she would seriously fight the election, Kumar said.
The party has already decided to change the Puri LS candidate and a proposal was submitted to the Congress high command. The name of the new candidate will be announced very soon, he said.
Sucharita has been fielded by the Congress from the Puri Lok Sabha seat against BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra and BJD candidate Arup Patnaik, a former Mumbai Police Commissioner.
