‘Have No Plan To Step Down As Facebook Chairman’, Says Mark Zuckerberg Despite Heavy Investor Pressure

While giving an interview to CNN on Tuesday (20 November), Mark Zuckerberg stated that he will not step down from the company’s chairmanship, despite heavy pressure from investors, reports IANS.

Investors have been increasingly pushing for his exit from the post while he faces intense scrutiny over data scandals. Replying to criticism and pressure of retiring, Zuckerberg said, "That's not the plan. I'm not going to be doing this forever, but I'm not currently thinking that makes sense”.

It was previously reported that Jonas Kron, Senior Vice President at Trillium Asset Management which also owns a substantial stake in Facebook, called Zuckerberg to step down, in the wake of the reports.

Kron made a statement that, “Facebook is behaving like it's a special snowflake. It's not. It is a company and companies need to have a separation of chair and CEO”.

Natasha Lamb, another Facebook investor from Arjuna Capital said the joint role of chief executive and chairman means that "Facebook can avoid properly fixing problems inside the company.”

Amongst the crisis of data scandal, Facebook shares, on Tuesday (20 November), had ended at 132.43 dollars - almost 40 per cent down their peak in July.

This interview comes following a report in the New York Times claiming the chairman, along with COO Sheryl Sandberg, hired a Republic-owned political consultant and PR firm-Definers Public Affairs, to “dig up dirt” on the competition.

It also claimed that the duo had ignored warning signs pertaining to the Cambridge Analytica scandal.