Sabet and Wilson step down from Twitter board

Following a massive $800 million DST funding round, Twitter sees off a couple early investors

It took Facebook two months to add two new board members. It took Twitter only today to lose two.

The microblogging company announced Friday that Bijan Sabet, a partner at Spark Capital, and Fred Wilson, of Union Square Ventures, would be leaving Twitter’s board of directors.

“Bijan Sabet and Fred Wilson both played important and greatly appreciated roles in our success,” said Sean Garrett, Twitter’s VP of communications, in a statement. “Both saw what Twitter could become before most anyone else. We look forward to their continued input as both investors in the company and passionate users of the product.”

While Twitter wouldn't comment on its remaining board members, here's the list as reported by TechCrunch:

• Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter and founder/CEO of Square
• Dick Costolo, CEO of Twitter
• Evan Williams, co-founder of Twitter
• Peter Fenton, general partner at Benchmark Capital
• Mike McCue, co-founder and CEO of Flipboard
• David Rosenblatt, executive chairman at Group Commerce
• Peter Currie, original CFO of Netscape and one-time CFO of Facebook

Sabet and Wilson’s exit follows the $800 million round raised by Twitter at the end of the summer, half of which was allocated to cash out early investors and even employees. If the two former board members gave up all or even some of their financial investments in the company, it would make sense for them to give up their seats.

Under most circumstances, exiting board members might be reason to worry about Twitter’s future, but considering the fat round just raised, largely from DST, it’s hard to see the quickly-growing startup in any sort of trouble.

In related board news, Facebook has added two new members recently, including Netflix CEO Reed Hastings in June and political/business veteran Erskine Bowles earlier this month.

Neither Sabet nor Wilson have commented on their exits, though Sabet did blog the following quotation today, attributed to Twitter co-founder Biz Stone:

“Whatever your role is at the company you work for—whether you’re an executive with many reports, or an individual contributor on a team, practicing regular, daily mindfulness and compassion will make you a healthier, more productive person. Additionally, the people you work with are going to respond better and do better work. The outcome is going to be a superior product or service, a happier user or client, and in the best case—a positive global impact.”