Reed Hastings, chairman and chief executive of Netflix, and Erskine Bowles, president emeritus of University of North Carolina, will be leaving Facebook’s board next month, the social media company announced Friday.
The move comes as Facebook announced it was nominating Peggy Alford, a senior vice president at PayPal, to join the board. Bowles and Hastings, both of whom have served on the board since 2011, will not be nominated for reelection when the company’s board of directors votes on May 30 at its annual meeting of stockholders.
“Peggy is one of those rare people who’s an expert across many different areas — from business management to finance operations to product development. I know she will have great ideas that help us address both the opportunities and challenges facing our company,” Facebook CEO Mark ZuckerbergMark Elliot ZuckerbergNetflix’s Reed Hastings, Erskine Bowles leaving Facebook board Hillicon Valley: White House threatens to veto net neutrality bill | UK floats tough new rules on tech platforms | Facebook removes white nationalist groups amid pressure | Senators ask FTC to ‘take action’ against tech giants New Zealand official calls Facebook ‘morally bankrupt pathological liars’ MORE said in the announcement.
Both Hastings and Bowles reportedly clashed with other members of the board. The New York Times reported in 2017 that Hastings told fellow board member Peter Thiel that he intended to dock his performance review over his endorsement of then-Republican presidential-nominee Donald TrumpDonald John TrumpAppeals court rules Trump admin can temporarily continue to send asylum seekers back to Mexico Federal investigation finds rampant sexual harassment at company led by Trump nominee: report Booker on Trump reportedly floating pardon for border official: ‘That should shake every American’ MORE.
“I’m so mystified by your endorsement of Trump for our President, that for me it moves from ‘different judgment’ to ‘bad judgment,’” Hastings reportedly told Thiel in an email. “Some diversity in views is healthy, but catastrophically bad judgment (in my view) is not what anyone wants in a fellow board member.”
Bowles also reportedly excoriated Facebook’s top executives over Russian disinformation campaigns that ran over the platform.
The tech behemoth has been under intense scrutiny over the spread of fake news on its website and the access of third-party companies to users’ private information.