To his Facebook friends and Twitter followers, Gene Morphis was like the rest of the world, using social media to vent about day-to-day frustrations of his job.
But Mr. Morphis wasn't like most employees. He happened to be an officer of a public company. On Monday, his musings cost him his job.
Mr. Morphis was chief financial officer of fashion retailer Francesca's Holdings Corp. The Houston-based company fired him because he "improperly communicated company information through social media," the company said.
Mr. Morphis has maintained a publicly viewable profile on Facebook, authored a blog called "Morph's View" and maintained a Twitter account under the handle "theoldcfo." Online, he discussed everything from Christmas to college basketball, and occasionally company doings. It was those posts that landed him in trouble.
The company said it launched an internal investigation with the assistance of outside counsel after discovering the activity on Friday afternoon. The company said Mr. Morphis was "terminated for cause."
Mr. Morphis was Francesca's CFO since October 2010, earning a total of $566,720 in 2011 and $1.2 million the prior year. He previously held CFO positions, at David's Bridal and the Rowe Companies, and was listed as being 63 years old in an SEC filing last month.
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