PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel will step down from the board of Facebook’s parent company Meta, ending a 17-year mentorship of Mark Zuckerberg.
Theil plans to step down after May’s annual shareholder meeting, in order to move further into the realm of politics. Thiel was one of the earliest investors in Facebook, in 2004, and mentored Zuckerberg when he was still a college student.
“Peter is truly an original thinker who you can bring your hardest problems and get unique suggestions,” Zuckerberg said in a statement.
“He has served on our board for almost two decades, and we’ve always known that at some point he would devote his time to other interests.”
If ever there was a time to run, this is it. Meta faces increased regulatory scrutiny, numerous lawsuits around the world, and just saw US$250 billion in market value erased overnight, after it reported zero growth in Facebook users during the December quarter.