Mark Zuckerberg’s “employee number four” Neeraj Arora adds to Facebook’s growing list of high profile departures. He is said to be resigning from his position of Chief Bussiness Officer of Whatsapp. The ex-Google employee has worked for Whatsapp for 7 years, ever since its sensational $ 19 billion acquisition by Facebook in 2011. He stated that he was stepping down to recharge and spend more time with his family. “I’ve been blessed to work with a small set of talented people and see how maniacal focus can create something magical which is loved by billions of people. It is time to move on, but I cannot be more proud of how WhatsApp continues to touch people in so many different ways every day.”, he said via a Facebook post.
Interestingly, Neeraj was brought onboard by Whatsapp co-founders – Brian Acton and Jan Koum, both of whom have left in a span of one year over differences on the future of the world’s biggest networking platform. Acton left Facebook-Whatsapp to start a non-profit business. Koum quit to disagreements with Facebook management about WhatsApp user data privacy and weakened encryption. He even urged people to uninstall Facebook when the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke out. He also condemned their plans to monetize the platform with ads. Koum’s abrupt departure back in April tipped Neeraj Arora to take the helm as the CEO of the biggest messaging platform on the planet. But his departure now leaves a void at the top.
This isn’t all of Facebook’s agonies either. Instagram co-founders – Kevin Systrom and Mike Kreiger appalled everyone in the tech community when they announced they were parting ways with Facebook just months after Koum’s departure. When Facebook bought the photo-sharing platform for $ 1 billion, it promised them autonomy. But apparently Facebook didn’t seem to hold up their bargain and Zuckerberg started exercising more and more control over Instagram. Tensions mounted, people got upset and they finally quit. Alex Stamos, who was Facebook’s chief security officer, also left in August. One thing becomes clear, employees aren’t liking Mark Zuckerberg wielding power and seizing control all over Facebook and its acquisitions.
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