Facebook CTO stepping down after '13 amazing years': Here's why
Facebook Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Mike Schroepfer announced on Wednesday that he would be stepping down from his role and transitioning to a part-time position as a Senior Fellow at Facebook next year. Facebook's current head of the hardware division responsible for Oculus and other consumer products, Andrew "Boz" Bosworth, will be promoted as CTO. He will continue to lead the hardware division.
Schroepfer plans to stay connected with Facebook as a company
Schroepfer has been serving as Facebook's CTO since 2013. In a Facebook post about his decision, he mentioned that he plans to stay "deeply connected to the company, working on key initiatives including recruiting and developing technical talent." He continued that after stepping down next year, he would have more time for "family and personal philanthropic efforts."
Facebook's CTO shares his thoughts on stepping down
Bosworth leading Facebook Reality Labs will take over
Bosworth leads Facebook Reality Labs that recently debuted its smart glasses with Ray-Ban. This group was also tasked with bringing CEO Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse into existence. Zuckerberg went on the record to say that he wants Facebook to transition from a social media company to a metaverse company. For the uninitiated, a metaverse is an amalgamation of the physical and virtual worlds.
Zuckerberg announces Bosworth's takeover via blog post
With 10,000+ employees, Bosworth's Reality Labs is the largest team after the engineering organization he is subsuming that supports Facebook's app suite and infrastructure. Zuckerberg said, "As our next CTO, Boz will continue leading Facebook Reality Labs and overseeing our work in augmented reality, virtual reality, and more, and as part of this transition a few other groups will join Boz's team as well."
Before Reality Labs, Bosworth helped build News Feed, Messenger, Groups
As CTO, Bosworth will report to Zuckerberg directly. He is one of Facebook's longest-serving executives, having joined the company over 15 years ago. Before transitioning to lead Facebook Reality Labs, he helped the company develop key features such as the News Feed, Messenger, and Groups. Bosworth has a reputation for directly engaging with critics on Twitter and has received harsh blowback for controversial comments.
