Wednesday, January 8, 2025

Meta appoints UFC’s president to its board | TechCrunch

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Meta has appointed three new members to its board of directors, the company announced Monday: UFC president and CEO Dana White, European investment company Exor CEO John Elkann, and tech investor and entrepreneur Charlie Songhurst.

In a press release, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that White, Elkann, and Songhurst “will add a depth of expertise and perspective” that’ll help Meta “tackle the massive opportunities ahead with AI, wearables, and the future of human connection.”

White was named CEO of UFC in 2023, after the organization merged with WWE to form a new public company, TKO Group Holdings. He’s responsible for the overall strategic direction of UFC’s global business, including its live events series.

Elkann, who founded Exor in 2009, is also the executive chair of Ferrari and Stellantis (formerly Fiat Chrysler). At Exor, Elkann invests in companies including the aforementioned Ferrari and Stellantis, Philips, Christian Louboutin, Juventus Football Club, and The Economist Group. Elkann also runs Lingotto, an investment management company wholly owned by Exor.

As for Songhurst, he previously served as general manager and head of global corporate strategy at Microsoft, focused on partnerships and M&A. As part of that role, he led the Yahoo and Skype acquisitions.

Songhurst had been advising Meta’s executives on AI since last year as part of a newly created product advisory council. He’ll leave that council to take a board seat, a company spokesperson told Bloomberg.

The additions bring Meta’s board to 13 directors, including Zuckerberg. All but two have joined since 2019. Other members include Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Marc Andreessen, DoorDash CEO Tony Xu, Dropbox CEO Drew Houston, and Broadcom president Hock Tan.

Zuckerberg holds the title of chairman of the board, and retains majority control through Meta’s dual-class stock structure.

As Bloomberg notes, White is a high-profile campaigner for U.S. President-elect Donald Trump (although he recently swore he “wanted nothing to do with politics” in a profanity-laden rant). White appeared in Trump’s first-ever TikTok video, and spoke at the Republican National Convention and at Trump’s election-night rally.

White is also a friend of Zuckerberg’s. The two have posed for Instagram photos together, and White sought Zuckerberg’s advice on building AI tech into UFC’s ranking systems.

Meta has been the target of Trump’s criticism historically. Zuckerberg has made several recent moves to attempt to appease the incoming president, including dining at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate and appointing Joe Kaplan, an executive with GOP ties, as Meta’s policy chief.

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