What does it mean when someone from the other team was removed from the conversation?
The sender of that message removed someone from the correspondence.
This can happen openly, for example when that someone was in charge of a specific phase or task that has been completed and is publicly removed from the conversation.
This could also happen behind the scenes in the form of a request by the removed person.
The implication of removing a person from the conversation can be viewed in light of that person’s role in the organization:
Was this person a senior team member? If the deal was delegated to another senior person before this occurred, it may indicate that the deal is still in progress. Nevertheless, if a senior person is abruptly removed from the conversation, that's probably not a good sign for the deal.
If that person was a junior team member and promoted the deal to a senior person before being removed, it may indicate some progress in the deal. If no clear handoff occurred, then no assertions can be made about the deal’s future at this point.
Another consideration is did this person have a specific task or assignment in the deal context?
If so, and that task was successfully completed, then this may be a good sign.
However, if the task was not finished or there's a risk that this person may have had a bad opinion on the deal you're offering, then you should be more alert.