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 technology investor and entrepreneur Charlie Songhurst.
A Press releaseMeta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said White, Elkann and Songhurst “will add a depth of expertise and perspective” that will help Meta “address the enormous opportunities surrounding the future of AI, wearables and human connectivity.”
White was named CEO of the UFC in 2023, after the organization merged with WWE to form a new public company, TKO Group Holdings. He is responsible for the overall strategic direction of the UFC's global business, including its live event series.
Elkann, who founded Exor in 2009, is also the executive chair of Ferrari and Stellantis (formerly Fiat Chrysler). At Exor, Elkann invested in companies including the aforementioned Ferrari and Stellantis, Philips, Christian Louboutin, Juventus Football Club and The Economist Group. Elkan runs Lingotto, an investment management company wholly owned by Exor.
For Songhurst, he previously served as general manager and head of global corporate strategy at Microsoft, focusing on partnerships and M&A. As part of that role, he led the acquisitions of Yahoo and Skype.
Songhurst has been advising Meta's executives on AI since last year as part of a newly created Product Advisory Council. He will leave the council to take a board seat, a company spokesman said to say Bloomberg.
Addition of 13 Directors of Mater Board, 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 maintains majority control through Meta's dual-class stock structure.
As Bloomberg notes, White is a high-profile campaigner for US President-elect Donald Trump (although he recently vowed that he “want nothing to do with politics” Profanity-laden rant). White appeared in Trump's first TikTok video and spoke at the Republican National Convention and at Trump's election-night rally.
White is also a friend of Zuckerberg. The two posed for pictures on Instagram togetherand white want Zuckerberg's advice on building AI technology into the UFC's ranking system.
Meta has historically been the target of Trump's criticism. Zuckerberg did Some recent steps Trying to appease the incoming president, including dining at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate and hiring Joe Kaplan, an executive with GOP ties, as Meta's policy chief.