Facebook Inc Chief Executive, Mark Zuckerberg, ordered a massive reshuffling of its management this Tuesday, with an aim to consolidate power in the sprawling internet company. The reshuffling did not include any firings or hiring, or change in the role of Zuckerberg and the Chief Operating Officer, Sheryl Sandberg.
Chris Cox, the chief product officer in charge of the flagship Facebook service, has now been responsible for overseeing the activities of Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp. This is a move to integrate the relatively freer WhatsApp, bought for $22 billion in 2014, following the recent resignations of its two co-founders. WhatsApp co-founder, Brian Acton, left last September to start a foundation, while Jan Koum, the other co-founder, announced his resignation last week. Chris Daniels, who has hitherto been in charge of a Facebook effort to expand internet access, shall succeed Jan Koum as the new head of WhatsApp.
Facebook’s Chief Technology Officer, Mike Schroepfer, will oversee a consolidated division related to “new platforms and infrastructure”, while Vice President of Growth, Javier Olivan, will do the same for centralized services such as the ads system.
David Marcus, the head of Messenger, is leaving his post in order to set up a group to explore how Facebook can use the latest Cryptocurrency related Blockchain technology and see if it may have other business applications as a ledger for recording transactions, although Marcus said Facebook was “starting from scratch.”
Stan Chudnovsky, Messenger’s product chief, shall succeed Marcus as the new head of Messenger.
Lastly, Kevin Weil, head of products at Instagram, is leaving his post to join Facebook’s blockchain division. He is being succeeded by Adam Mosseri, the current head of the Facebook News Feed.
