Facebook chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer is stepping down from the social media company and taking on a part-time role, while former executive Andrew Bosworth will replace him next year.
Schroepfer, known as “Schrep,” has been on Facebook for 13 years and is a close friend of CEO Mark Zuckerberg. He considered his decision difficult “for how much I love Facebook and the enthusiasm I have for the future we are building together,” but added that his new role will allow him to focus on personal and philanthropic efforts while stay connected to Facebook.
The transition will occur sometime in 2022.
Bosworth, known as “Boz,” is another lifelong Facebook executive and a close friend of Zuckerberg. He has recently taken charge of Facebook’s augmented reality and virtual reality efforts, as well as hardware products like Oculus and Portal, Facebook’s video calling gadget.
“As the next CTO, Boz will continue to lead Facebook Reality Labs and oversee our work in augmented reality, virtual reality and more, and as part of this transition, some other groups will also join Boz’s team.” , Zuckerberg wrote in a note to Facebook Staff posted online. “All of this is critical to our broader efforts to help build the metaverse, and I’m excited about the future of this work under Boz’s leadership.”
Schroepfer’s transition comes amid relentless challenges for Facebook, ranging from concerns about extremism, vaccination and electoral misinformation related to its platforms, regulatory pressure on competition, antitrust issues and privacy. of users, among others.
Another long-time executive, Fiji Simo, left Facebook over the summer to become Instacart’s CEO.