Patrick Waterston, CEO of PlumRankTwelve, resigned on Monday following an offensive tweet that was shared over 280 million times. At 10:12 AM he tweeted a congratulatory message to the rotation-based company’s 1200 employees:
@PWatersPlum: Hats off to everyone at PlumRankTwelve for exceeding parameters 189 quarters in a row. You did it and did it right!
Within three minutes there were more than 500 responses. Among them:
@LittleSteve33: This is the person they trust to run a $112 billion company?
@MauraMagical: Well, Pat is done like dinner! @PWatersPlum needs to go now!
In response to the reaction, Watertston tweeted again at 10:35:
@PWatersPlum: In my enthusiasm to congratulate my innovative, dynamic team at PlumRankTwelve as quickly as possible, I didn’t take the time to think my message through. I apologize for any hurt this may have caused.
The response only made things things worse:
@IrishGlennP: Hey, board of directors! You hearing this?
@GeenThree: Wow! This takes tone deaf to an entirely new level! Someone needs to take action and deal with this guy!
By 11 o’clock, over 40 groups of employees were circulating petitions demanding the CEO’s immediate resignation. The company’s stock price, which had opened at $542 per share Monday morning, plummeted to $14 by noon. At 1:15 Waterston tried again:
@PWatersPlum: In retrospect I am deeply troubled by my words this morning. I have decided to take a one-month leave of absence, time which I will spend in intense counseling to develop more effective sensitivity skillsets.
This was followed by an additional 2.2 million tweets. This one summed them up:
@GeorgetteTimkins22: One month? How about forever?
Unfortunately for Mr. Waterston, the company’s board of directors agreed. They called an emergency phone meeting at 1:45, took a quick vote, and demanded not only the CEO’s resignation, but also that he immediately surrender his company car, his country club membership, and all the contents of his office refrigerator.
