Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

Facebook's technology head Mike Schroepfer to step down

Published 22/09/2021, 23:18
Updated 23/09/2021, 01:05
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Mike Schroepfer, Chief Technology Officer at Facebook speaks at the WSJTECH live conference in Laguna Beach, California, U.S. October 21, 2019.    REUTERS/ Mike Blake

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Mike Schroepfer, Chief Technology Officer at Facebook speaks at the WSJTECH live conference in Laguna Beach, California, U.S. October 21, 2019. REUTERS/ Mike Blake

(Reuters) - Longtime Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) executive Mike Schroepfer said on Wednesday that he was stepping down as the company's chief technology officer.

Schroepfer said in a Facebook post that veteran leader Andrew Bosworth, who heads up the social media company's augmented reality and virtual reality efforts, including products like its Oculus Quest VR headset, will take over the role in 2022.

Schroepfer, who is known as "Schrep" and spent 13 years at Facebook, said he would transition to a part-time role as the company's first Senior Fellow sometime next year.

Bosworth, or "Boz," created Facebook's AR/VR organization, which was renamed Facebook Reality Labs (FRL) in 2020.

"As our next CTO, Boz will continue leading Facebook Reality Labs and overseeing our work in augmented reality, virtual reality and more, and as part of this transition a few other groups will join Boz’s team as well," CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a message to employees that was posted on Facebook's blog.

"This is all foundational to our broader efforts helping to build the metaverse, and I'm excited about the future of this work under Boz’s leadership," he said, referring to the Silicon Valley idea of shared spaces that merge the digital and physical worlds and can be accessed through different devices.

Facebook is under pressure from global regulators, lawmakers and civil society groups who have criticized it over abuses on its platform such as extremism and misinformation and want it to improve on a slew of issues including transparency, its content moderation and recommendation systems, and its approaches to user privacy and safety.

The company has been pushing its role in building an embodied internet, or "metaverse," which Zuckerberg is betting will be the next big computing platform.

In July, the company said it was creating a new product team to work on these ambitions, as part of Facebook Reality Labs.

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Mike Schroepfer, Chief Technology Officer at Facebook speaks at the WSJTECH live conference in Laguna Beach, California, U.S. October 21, 2019.    REUTERS/ Mike Blake

Zuckerberg said Schroepfer's new role would include helping the company recruit and develop technical talent and foster investments in artificial intelligence.

Other central leaders who have left the company in recent months include the head of Facebook's main app, Fidji Simo, who left to become Instacart CEO, and global ads chief Carolyn Everson, who was hired as the start-up's president.

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.