Facebook’s CPO Chris Cox and WhatsApp VP Chris Daniels are reportedly exiting Facebook after disagreements with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg over the future plans of the said social network.
Chris Cox, in a public post about his departure from Facebook, dated March 14, hinted at disagreements with the Facebook CEO.
As Mark has outlined, we are turning a new page in our product direction. This will be a big project and we will need leaders who are excited to see the new direction through. – Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, Facebook
Zuckerberg’s plans to maintain control over Facebook and its apps – Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger – by desegregating the services into a sole privacy-focused platform had perturbed the Facebook executive who was in charge of its apps, as combining all the apps would affect the popularity and growth of their individual products in a negative way. Moreover, it would also result in a loss of autonomy and power for the executives concerned.
No responses to requests have come from either Chris Cox or Chris Daniels.
Zuckerberg has described both moves as a decision taken by the executives of their own accord and explained the decision taken by Chris Cox, his long-time friend, by saying:
For a few years, Chris has been discussing with me his desire to do something else . . . But after 2016, we both realized we had too much important work to do to improve our products for society, and he stayed to help us work through these issues and help us chart a course for our family of apps going forward. At this point, we have made real progress . . . As we embark on this next major chapter, Chris has decided now is the time to step back from leading these teams. – Mark Zuckesberg
The Facebook CEO is now restructuring the company with two other longtime executives filling up the vacancies. Will Cathcart will manage WhatsApp and Fidji Simo will be the head of Facebook’s main app.
Javier Olivan will lead the task of identifying how to integrate Facebook’s products, including the plan to unify the backend of Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram direct to expand encryption and allow cross-app messaging that some see as a shield against Facebook being broken up.
Moreover, Instagram VP Adam Mosseri, Facebook Messenger’s VP Stan Chudnovsky, Fidji Simo, and Will Cathcart have to report directly to Zuckerberg from now.
