One of Facebook's "longest-serving" board members, Peter Thiel, is officially planning to step down from Meta's board. As an early investor, Thiel has been on the board ever since 2015, which is actually just a year after Facebook's social network platform launched.
Who is Peter Thiel?
According to the story by CNN, Peter Thiel is popular for being the co-founder of PayPal and Palantir Technologies, a data-analytics firm. In addition, Thiel is also known for being a partner at Founders Fund, a venture capital firm.
Thiel is also an early backer of numerous established tech firms aside from Facebook, including Yelp and LinkedIn. He is likewise known for investing money in order to develop floating cities.
In addition, Thiel is an early investor of a startup that has "compiled billions of photos for facial recognition technology" known as Clearview AI.
Thiel is the author of "Zero to One,'' which is a New York Times' best-selling book. In the book, he argued that "monopolies should be the goal for entrepreneurs."
Mark Zuckerberg on Peter Thiel Leaving His Position
Thiel is also known to be a mentor and a close adviser of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
The Meta CEO has given a statement regarding Thiel's departure from the company, saying that "Peter has been a valuable member of our board and I'm deeply grateful for everything he has done for our company - from believing in us when few others would, to teaching me so many lessons about business, economics, and the world."
Zuckerberg has suggested that Thiel left the board so that he can have time to allot for his other interests. The Meta CEO described Thiel as an "original thinker." With the exit of Peter Thiel, Meta, according to CNN, will be losing the "most outspoken conservative voice on its board."
His departure is taking place in the midst of a rather critical period for Meta as the social media giant tries to figure out how to counter the drop in users, tougher competition, scrutiny from regulators, as well as the effects of previous controversies from last year.
Facebook to Change Its Ticker from FB to META
In the past two years, Meta has added two members from startup foundations to its board. These are DropBox's Drew Houston as well as DoorDash's Tony Xu. It is being said that the company is looking to invest even more in augmented reality (AR) technology and even in e-commerce.
According to an article by Fox Business, ever since Facebook changed its name to Meta, its ticker has remained the same. This, however, may soon change.
According to the article, in the first half of the year, the company's FB ticker will then be changed to META as the company will continue to be listed on the Nasdaq.
Related Article: Google's Parent Company Alphabet Hit Record High 2021 Revenues of $257 Billion: 41% Year-Over-Year Increase
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Urian B.
