According to a report by Bloomberg on Wednesday, Twitter Inc hired former Google advertising executive J.J. Hirschle as head of its retail division. The hiring of Hirschle was part of the microblogging service's plan to expand its business prior to its initial public offering on November. Coincidentally, Apple Inc had recently hired former Burberry Corp chief Angela Ahrendts to head its retail division prior to Twitter's hiring announcement.

Twitter spokesman Will Stickney was quoted saying that Hirschle would be leading a team who would be selling advertising products to companies in the retail sector. Hirschle would be starting on October 28, the day Twitter was expected to be kicking off its investor roadshow. Twitter would be pitching investors its shares before going public on the New York Stock Exchange.

Hirschle's hiring might be timely. In an updated filing, Twitter more than doubled its revenue in the third quarter to USD1686.6 million. However, the company recorded a USD64.6 million loss in the quarter starting September this year. The loss was bigger than the USD21.6 million loss it incurred in the same period last year.

When asked for comment by Reuters, Twitter was unavailable outside US regular business hours.