Yet another high-profile Facebook executive is headed for the exit as Mark Zuckerberg tightens his grip over the company’s various apps and businesses.
Brendan Iribe — who co-founded the virtual-reality startup Oculus that got sold to Facebook in 2014 for $2.3 billion — announced Monday that he was leaving the social network.
Iribe, 39, started Oculus along with Palmer Luckey — who was ousted from Facebook last year after it was revealed he secretly funded a pro-Donald Trump internet troll campaign while Facebook was weathering criticism over fake news.
Iribe is the latest founder of an acquired company to leave Facebook in recent months. Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger left Facebook unexpectedly in late September, reportedly because of disagreements with Zuckerberg increasing control over the direction of the company.
And in an interview with Forbes the following day, WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton — who left Facebook in September 2017 — described himself as a “sellout” for allowing Facebook to acquire his company for $19 billion and implement measures to monetize it.
“I sold my users’ privacy to a larger benefit,” he said. “I made a choice and a compromise. And I live with that every day.”
Iribe, wrote in a Facebook post that he was “proud and grateful” for what the Oculus team had accomplished, but that he was ready to be “moving on.”
Since Facebook bought Oculus, the company has failed to generate significant sales of its pricey VR headsets. Recently, Oculus announced a $399 model called the Quest, which doesn’t need to connect to a computer. Iribe had been CEO of Oculus until he was demoted in late 2016.
Facebook shares rose 0.5 percent, to $154.78.
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