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Bulletins

Peter Thiel will step down from Meta's board

He is reportedly leaving to focus on supporting Republican House and Senate candidates.

Peter Thiel in 2019

Thiel is not running for re-election on Meta's board of directors.

Photo: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Peter Thiel, one of Meta's first major investors, will leave the company's board of directors at the company's annual stockholders meeting, the company announced Monday. Thiel is leaving to focus on backing candidates in the upcoming midterm elections, The New York Times reported.

Thiel is reportedly looking to support candidates aligned with Donald Trump's agenda, a source with knowledge on the matter told the New York Times. Ahead of the November midterm election, Thiel will support three candidates for Senate and 12 candidates for House, according to the report.

Thiel has become one of the Republican party's biggest donors, giving $10 million each in 2021 to candidates running for senate seats in Arizona and Ohio.

"It has been a privilege to work with one of the great entrepreneurs of our time," Thiel said in a statement. "Mark Zuckerberg's intelligence, energy, and conscientiousness are tremendous. His talents will serve Meta well as he leads the company into a new era."

Thiel, who invested $500,000 in Zuckerberg's Meta 18 years ago, has been a board member of the company since 2005.

"Peter is truly an original thinker who you can bring your hardest problems and get unique suggestions," Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement. "He has served on our board for almost two decades, and we've always known that at some point he would devote his time to other interests. I'm grateful he's served on our board for as long as he has, and I wish him the best in his journey ahead."

Nat Rubio-Licht

Nat Rubio-Licht is a Los Angeles-based news writer at Protocol. They graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in newspaper and online journalism in May 2020. Prior to joining the team, they worked at the Los Angeles Business Journal as a technology and aerospace reporter.

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