San Francisco, Jan 24 (IANS): In a blow to Twitter's expansion plans, the micro-blogging platform's Chief Operating Officer (COO) Anthony Noto has quit the company.

Noto will join online lender Social Finance (known as SoFi) as CEO.

"Noto has been an incredible advocate for Twitter and a trusted partner to me and our leadership team.

"On behalf of the entire team, I want to thank Anthony for his passion and his impact, and congratulate him on his new role," Jack Dorsey, Twitter's CEO, said in a statement late on Tuesday.

Noto's responsibilities for Twitter's business operations and revenue generating operations will be assumed by other members of the leadership team.

Matt Derella, Twitter's Vice President of Global Revenue and Operations, will continue to lead the company's advertising sales efforts.

"It has been an honour to work alongside Jack and contribute to the success of one of the most impactful platforms in the world," said Noto.

"While it's bittersweet to depart, I have the utmost confidence in Twitter's future and look forward to watching the wonderful success the team will continue to achieve," he added.

Twitter, with over 300 million users, has been struggling with slow user growth and a drop in revenue for quite some time.