SurveyMonkey, an online polling firm shaken by the sudden death of its chief executive last year, has replaced the man who took over in the aftermath.
Bill Veghte, a former executive at Hewlett-Packard had only been in the job since last July, after the death in May of David Goldberg. The new chief, Zander Lurie, is a SurveyMonkey board member who served as interim chief executive before Mr. Veghte took the job.
Mr. Lurie, who is currently the senior vice president for media at GoPro, the sports camera company, will take over on Jan. 16, and will serve on GoPro’s board.
Also on Wednesday, GoPro announced that its fourth-quarter revenue would be lower than expected and that it was laying off 7 percent of its approximately 1,500 employees. Shares in GoPro fell sharply on the news.
Bennett Porter, a spokeswoman for SurveyMonkey, declined to say why Mr. Veghte was out so quickly, but noted that he would continue to serve on the SurveyMonkey board. Mr. Lurie’s selection, she said, “was a unanimous board decision.”
Mr. Veghte could not be reached for comment. In an interview with the website Recode, he cited differences of opinion with investors about company strategy, without stating particulars.
SurveyMonkey is used by companies as well as political groups to gauge public opinion.
Much interest around the company has stemmed from the people involved: Mr. Goldberg was the husband of Sheryl K. Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook, and had been an adviser and mentor to several young leaders in Silicon Valley. Mr. Veghte went to college with Mr. Goldberg. Mr. Lurie was another close friend and was with him on a group vacation in Mexico when Mr. Goldberg collapsed while exercising on a treadmill.
Since Mr. Goldberg’s death, Ms. Sandberg has joined SurveyMonkey’s board and has written several powerful posts on Facebook about dealing with grief. Also named to the board in September was Meg Whitman, now chief executive of Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, who was a champion of Mr. Veghte’s when he ran software and strategy at HP.
GoPro, a fast-growing company that is facing tough competition, said fourth-quarter revenue would be $435 million, and revenue for all of 2015 would be $1.6 billion. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had been expecting revenue of about $512 million for the quarter.
Shares in GoPro closed Wednesday at $14.61, but fell about 24 percent in after-hours trading, after the company released its earnings projections.