While major Facebook investors including three state treasurers and a top official from New York joined a shareholders’ motion to push Mark Zuckerberg's out as Facebook’s chairman, Zuckerberg in a short interview with CNN told reporters that he won’t be stepping down.
When asked whether Sheryl Sandberg will remain secure in her position as COO, Zuckerberg said that Sheryl is a really important part of this company. She’s been an important partner with me for 10 years.
“I’m really proud of the work we’ve done together and I hope that we work together for decades to come,” Zuckerberg added.
Investors claimed that Zuckerberg’s ouster would improve governance and accountability of the social media giant which has been involved in biggest data breach of its time. While the proposal was largely symbolic, as Zuckerberg holds absolute control of the board.
“That’s not the plan… I’m not currently thinking that that makes sense,” Zuckerberg told CNN.
Facebook said this claim was without merit and has filed a motion to dismiss the legal action.
“This lawsuit is without merit and we've filed a motion to dismiss these claims of fraud. Suggestions that we in any way tried to hide this issue from our partners are false. We told our customers about the error when we discovered it - and updated our help centre to explain the issue,” a Facebook spokesperson added.
While similar motions to reclaim voting power have been made before, though none has passed. The latest proposal will be voted on at Facebook's next shareholder meeting next year.
