A half-dozen Meta executives have ditched the company’s California headquarters so far this year, taking advantage of Mark Zuckerberg’s loose attitude toward remote work even as the company faces threats on several fronts.
London is the top destination for departing Meta executives. Instagram chief Adam Mosseri, Meta chief marketing officer Alex Schultz and global affairs president Nick Clegg have all either moved already or plan to move to England this year.
Clegg — the former leader of the Liberal Democratic Party and UK deputy prime minister — reports directly to Mark Zuckerberg and leads all of Meta’s dealings with governments around the world.
He wants to be closer to his parents and sees London as a better location to travel to continental Europe and Asia, the Financial Times reported. Meta is facing tough antitrust challenges from regulators in both the US and Europe.
Mosseri, meanwhile, will help recruit Instagram staffers while he lives temporarily in the UK, where tech talent is as much as three times cheaper than in San Francisco, according to Financial Times.
As Meta shares have plunged more than 50% so far this year amid slowing growth and competition from TikTok, Zuckerberg has cracked the whip and urged managers to oust low-performing employees. But the Meta CEO still has a more liberal attitude toward remote work than most other Big Tech honchos.
Meta allows most employees to choose between fully remote or hybrid schedules — and Zuckerberg himself spends much of his time at his sprawling Hawaiian estate.
It’s not just Hawaii and the UK that are drawing Meta’s top brass away from the company’s Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters.
Javier Olivan, who recently replaced Sheryl Sandberg as Meta’s chief operating officer, is reportedly splitting his time between California and his native Spain.
Product head Naomi Gleit is living in New York City, where Meta recently cut back on plans for expansions of its Hudson Yards and Astor Place offices, Bloomberg reported in July.
And chief information security officer Guy Rosen has relocated to his native Israel.
Meta did not respond to a request for comment on the moves.
As Meta’s leaders fan out across the world, other Big Tech companies have forced employees back into the office.
Apple currently requires virtually all employees to spend two days per week in the office, with plans to ratchet the requirement up to three. Google is also requiring three days per week for many employees with more exceptions than Apple.
Amazon allows managers for individual corporate teams to decide how frequently their employees should come into the office.
