Netflix CEO Reed Hastings will leave Facebook next month after eight years service on its board amid reported, the social media giant announced on Friday.
“Reed has served on the board since 2011 (8 years), and we thank him for his service,” a Facebook spokesman said in a statement. According to various reports, his departure had been talked about for some time amid concern that Facebook’s desire to expand its video content could lead to a conflict of interest.
Reed Hastings had previously clashed with other board members including PayPal founder Peter Thiel, lambasting him in 2017 over his support for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
“I’m so mystified by your endorsement of Trump for our President, that for me it moves from ‘different judgment’ to ‘bad judgment,’” Hastings wrote to Thiel in an email. “Some diversity in views is healthy, but catastrophically bad judgment (in my view) is not what anyone wants in a fellow board member.”
Meanwhile, the president emeritus of University of North Carolina Erskine Bowers will also leave the Facebook board, having become disenchanted with the company’s failure to tackle alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has since announced that he would nominate Peggy Alford, a senior vice president at PayPal, as a replacement.
“Peggy is one of those rare people who’s an expert across many different areas — from business management to finance operations to product development,” Zuckerberg said in a statement. “I know she will have great ideas that help us address both the opportunities and challenges facing our company.”
Other Facebook board members include investor Marc Andreessen and chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, and the venture capitalist Jim Breyer.
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