Mark Zuckerberg would put an end to his stage as CEO of Meta in 2023. This is confirmed by a report The Leak, which, citing an internal source, indicates that the executive himself would have made the decision to step aside. The information for now is scarce and should be taken with great caution, but, if confirmed, it would be one of the big bombings of next year.
The aforementioned report does not offer much more about it, although it mentions that the supposed departure of Mark Zuckerberg I wouldn’t change plans around the metaverse. Could this hypothetical exit be a way to decompress the increasingly difficult relationship with investors? Today it is difficult to say, without a doubt, although it would not be strange for it to be so.
As we said at the beginning, the data is very scant and should be taken with extreme caution. What it does indicate The Leak is that the leak of Zuck’s supposed resignation comes at a time when the Menlo Park firm is under a lot of pressure for its approach to life in virtuality.
Goal comes from presenting very poor financial results in the last quarter. Although it presented revenues that were higher than those projected by analysts, it suffered a brutal drop in benefits. They were barely 4,395 million dollars; that is to say, 52% less than those of the same period of the previous year.
In addition, its costs and expenses increased almost 20% year-on-year, while Reality Labs, the division in charge of virtual reality and metaverse projects, posted losses of $3.7 billion, maintaining the familiar streak.
At that time, the market did not take it well. Especially since a defiant Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged that expected to continue losing money in torrents in 2023. In the hours after the third-quarter 2022 announcements, Meta’s stock plunged 25%, sweeping more than $80 billion of valuation off the company.
Is it possible for Mark Zuckerberg to resign from Meta?
Beyond the logical caution that must be exercised when dealing with a topic that has everything to be deeply controversial, today it is quite difficult to imagine driving Meta without the presence of Mark Zuckerberg. Not only for being the founder of the company and who has held the role of CEO since day one, or its main shareholder. If not also because a large part of the decision-making continues to pass through his hands; especially when it comes to the most contentious issues.
When the Facebook Papers scandal broke out, for example, the executive’s special involvement in defining positions around the hottest topics became evident. Something that was reflected in the application of censorship in certain countries, and in the decision not to change their algorithms despite knowing that it could help reduce the viralization of false news, just to mention a few cases.
But the most notorious case is, without a doubt, that of the metaverse. Mark Zuckerberg has been the main driver of an abrupt change in strategy at the corporate level that has led him to lose billions of dollars. Despite criticism -many of them internal-, the CEO has remained stoic in his position.
The other big question is who could take his position in the event that, indeed, Zuck resigns from Meta in 2023. For years, the answer to that question was only one: Sheryl Sandberg. However, the businessman’s longtime right-hand man left the company through the small door, embroiled in accusations for allegedly intimidating a British outlet into not publishing a story about Bobby Kotick, the CEO of Activision.
Today, the departure of Mark Zuckerberg from Meta is nothing more than a rumor, and should not be treated as more than that. Although it is also true that, if materialized, can open several questions to the signature of Menlo Park. Will 2022 be the executive’s last as CEO? Will his future be focused specifically on Reality Labs? For now, we will have to keep waiting.