Facebook News: Group Of Shareholders Sign Proposal To Replace Mark Zuckerberg As Chairman

A tumultuous year for Facebook (FB) continued this week, as a group of shareholders co-signed a proposal to remove CEO Mark Zuckerberg from the company’s board of directors. The group on Wednesday cited a lack of accountability for Facebook’s fumbling of public controversies, Reuters reported.

The proposal will be voted on in May 2019. If successful, Facebook’s chairman of the board will be an independent position, essentially forcing Zuckerberg off the board while keeping him as the company’s CEO. As it stands now, he has 60 percent voting power in board matters.

Facebook’s board consists of Zuckerberg as well as a variety of tech figures and venture capitalists, from Marc Andreessen to Peter Thiel.

New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer was one of the shareholders who signed the proposal. Stringer said Facebook’s board needs to change in order to provide the kind of accountability the company needs to serve the public interest.

“Facebook plays an outsized role in our society and our economy,” Stringer told Reuters. “They have a social and financial responsibility to be transparent – that’s why we’re demanding independence and accountability in the company’s boardroom.”

Stringer was joined by Trillium Asset Management and the state treasuries of Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Illinois. All of those groups own Facebook shares.

Facebook declined to comment on the proposal. A Facebook spokesperson noted in an email that a similar proposal was voted down last year.

The past two years have seen considerable attention paid to Facebook's mishandling of scandals. The social media giant has dealt with increased public scrutiny over its ability to protect election integrity as well as its use of user data. The Cambridge Analytica scandal, which involved the misappropriation of 87 million Facebook users' data, could be considered a major turning point in how much the public trusts Facebook.

Facebook has also been sued by former employees and affected by the departures of Instagram executives. In September, the company had to do internal damage control after a company executive was seen publicly supporting Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during Senate confirmation hearings over sexual assault allegations.

Those are all in addition to a data breach Facebook reported at the end of September, which affected nearly 30 million users. The site reported tepid user growth in its last earnings report. Facebook’s stock price has fallen by more than 25 percent since a high point in July.