Ultimate Fighting Championship president and CEO Dana White, who campaigned for US President-elect Donald Trump, is one of three new board members at Facebook-owner Meta Platforms.
The social media company announced Monday that it had added White, alongside former Microsoft executive Charlie Songhurst and John Elkann, who runs European investment major Exor NV controlled by the Agnelli family (owners of Ferrari in Formula 1 and Serie A football club Juventus FC, among their many industrial assets).
The latest development follows on from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s efforts in recent months to get on Trump’s “right side”.
Per USA Today, naming White to the Meta board is the latest in a series of movies to strengthen ties with the incoming Trump administration. Zuckerberg dined at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in November and Meta donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund. Last week, it shuffled its leadership ranks to name Joel Kaplan, an executive with extensive ties to the Republican Party, as its global policy chief.
“I’ve never been interested in joining a board of directors until I got the offer to join Meta’s board. I am a huge believer that social media and AI are the future,” said White.
Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, created three new board seats for the appointments. The board now has 13 directors including Zuckerberg.
“Charlie, Dana and John will add a depth of expertise and perspective that will help us tackle the massive opportunities ahead with AI, wearables and the future of human connection,” Zuckerberg said in a statement.
