Kenneth Chenault"s recent departure from his board positions at IBM and Procter & Gamble has sparked rumors that he will be replacing Mark Zuckerberg as chairman of Facebook. Chenault currently serves on the board of directors of the social network giant.
Citing a Facebook spokesperson, Wall Street Journal tech reporter Deepa Seetharaman tweeted that Chenault will retain his role at the company"s board. The company initially declined to comment, but later confirmed that the American executive won"t be taking the chairman position at Facebook.
Speculations about Zuckerberg"s supposed replacement by the former American Express chairman and CEO came a few months after major Facebook stakeholders called for his resignation as chairman of the board. Zuckerberg currently also holds the role of CEO at the company.
Calls for his resignation are not without merits. The current year, in particular, has not been a smooth sailing period for the company after the Cambridge Analytica data privacy issue erupted. This was coupled with other major issues including Russia"s alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. elections using the platform and the proliferation of fake news on the service.
Putting an end to Zuckerberg"s dual role is supposed to raise the level of accountability at the company after it suffered numerous setbacks chalked up to top-level decision-making policies. Only time will tell, however, when that might happen given his massive clout at Facebook.
Via Business Insider | Image via Anthony Quintano (Wikimedia Commons)
