Mark Zuckerberg approves re-election of Peter Theil to Facebook’s board following Gawker controversy
Facebook held its annual shareholder meeting on Monday (20 June), with founder Mark Zuckerberg approving the re-election of Peter Thiel to its board of directors.
Thiel has been re-elected to Facebook's board
The move follows revelations that billionaire and PayPal co-founder Thiel helped fund Hulk Hogan’s successful high profile lawsuit against Gawker Media for publishing a sex tape of the former wrestler.
Gawker has filed for bankruptcy as a result of the $140m judgement, but has told employees that it intends to fight the case and operate its publishing business while it does so.
Facebook’s chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg had already indicated that Facebook would stand by Thiel in light of the news, saying “he did what he did on his own, not as a Facebook board member,” though the decision was not cemented until yesterday’s investor board election.
Some outlets have claimed that Republican delegate Thiel’s reappointment could cause friction with Facebook’s publishing partners, given that the executive spent millions of his own money bankrolling legal action against Gawker.
The company’s entire board was re-elected including Zuckerberg, Sandberg, and other high profile members like Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings.
The shareholder meeting also handed Zuckerberg (who owns 60 per cent of Facebook’s shares) greater power to maintain control of the world’s largest social network. A proposal to issue 5.57bn shares of Class C stock means the chief executive will now be able to carry out plans to donate a substantial portion of his shares without diluting his power.