Shareholder Petition Asks Zuckerberg to Step Down as Chairman

Mark Zuckerberg has been asked by a number of shareholders to step down from his position as Chairman of Facebook, and to focus instead on the CEO role.

Zuckerberg, however, has majority voting control and will be able to reject the petition single-handedly. With this in mind, the campaign is being seen as symbolic.

The New York City pension fund, state treasurers from Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and Illinois, and and Trillium Asset Management are among the parties calling for the move.

Scott M. Stringer, New York City Comptroller, said in a statement: “Facebook plays an outsized role in our society and our economy. They have a social and financial responsibility to be transparent – that’s why we’re demanding independence and accountability in the company’s boardroom.

“We need Facebook’s insular boardroom to make a serious commitment to addressing real risks – reputational, regulatory, and the risk to our democracy (…)

“An independent board chair is essential to moving Facebook forward from this mess, and to reestablish trust with Americans and investors alike.”

Facebook’s stock has been steadily declining since July, with the Cambridge Analytica scandal and poor quarterly results impacting the valuation.

The drop in price is the largest in several years. The social media giant’s market cap now sits well below $475 billion, just months after it was considered an outside pick for the first trillion-dollar company.

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