Peter Thiel, one of the company’s original investors and a board member since 2005, is stepping down. According to Meta, Thiel will not seek reelection at the 2022 annual meeting.
Thiel, who co-founded PayPal in 1998, would “devote his attention to other activities,” according to Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta.
“Peter has been an important member of our board, and I’m thankful for all he’s done for our company — from believing in us when few people did to teaching me so many lessons about business, economics, and the world,” Zuckerberg said in a statement.
According to The New York Times quoting an unidentified source, Thiel, a Trump supporter who purportedly advocated in favor of Facebook enabling politicians to lie in political advertising in 2019, would instead focus on assisting Republican candidates in this year’s midterm elections. However, Meta remained silent about the subject.
“Mark Zuckerberg is incredibly intelligent, energetic, and diligent. Meta will benefit from his ability to lead the firm into a new age. “In a statement, Thiel added.
Last year, Facebook renamed itself Meta to become a leader in the metaverse, which proponents like Zuckerberg regard as the next stage of the internet.