Zuckerberg's Friend Dropbox CEO Houston Joins Facebook Board Of Directors

Drew Houston, CEO and co-founder of Dropbox Inc. DBX, has been appointed to Facebook Inc.'s FB board of directors. 

What Happened?

The addition of Houston, who is a close friend of Mark Zuckerberg, CEO and founder of Facebook, brings the number of male directors of Facebook to six, while there are two female directors on the eight-member board. 

In a statement released by Facebook on Monday, Zuckerberg said, "Drew brings valuable perspective to our board as a leader of a technology company with services used by millions of people and businesses. He thinks deeply about where technology is going and how to build a culture that delivers services that always work well.” 

Why It Matters?

According to Tech Crunch, Houston is a graduate in computer science from MIT and is known as a technologist, and since Facebook is in the process of integrating its messaging apps to expand end-to-end encryption, the company will benefit from his guidance. Houston founded Dropbox along with Arash Ferdowsi in 2007.

The social media giant has been under fire for its corporate governance issues, with claims made that Zuckerberg has too much control. The addition of Houston, who is close to Zuckerberg is unlikely to add a voice of dissent on the board, according to Business Insider.

What Else Is There?
Facebook's Q4 2019 results indicated that the social media platform had added 1.66 billion daily active users as of December 2019. An increase of 9% year-on-year. However, even though the company's EPS and revenue exceeded the expectations of the investors, Facebook shares tumbled after earnings data was released.

Price Action

Facebook shares traded 2.28% higher at $204.19 at press time on Monday.

Photo Credit: Public domain photo via Wikimedia.