Facebook Shuffles Management Team

By Deepa Seetharaman

Facebook Inc. is overhauling its management structure in one of the biggest makeovers in the company's 14-year history.

In arguably the most significant move, Facebook put longtime executive Chris Cox in charge of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger in an effort that will integrate its high-profile acquisitions more deeply into the larger company.

The executive shuffle, announced internally Tuesday, doesn't affect the responsibilities of Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, the company's No. 2 executive. A Facebook spokeswoman confirmed the changes, which were first reported by tech news site Recode and go into effective immediately.

One former Facebook executive said the moves appeared to be designed to surround CEO Mark Zuckerberg with his most trusted executives as the company faces a range of new challenges.

"This reads like Mark putting his people back in charge. Virtually all of these people are seen as people that Mark believes are technically proficient and understand his vision," the executive said.

The changes come as the social-media giant grapples with challenges on multiple fronts, including scrutiny over its handling of user data and its ability to prevent foreign interference in elections. The moves give additional responsibilities to several longtime Facebook executives who have been with the company since before it went public in 2012.

Facebook's product and engineering divisions will now be carved up into three main divisions, including one group called "Family of Apps" that will be run by Mr. Cox, who is currently chief product officer of the main Facebook app and has been with the company since 2005. Mr. Cox's purview will now include the photo- and video-sharing app Instagram as well as Facebook's two chat apps, Messenger and WhatsApp. WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum said last week he would leave the company, four years after Facebook bought his encrypted-messaging app for $22 billion.

A second major division will be called "New Platforms and Infra," to be led by Mike Schroepfer, Facebook's chief technical officer. This group will tackle new technologies and products, including a new blockchain group to be led by David Marcus, who currently runs the Facebook Messenger chat app.

The third unit is called "Central Product Services" and will be run by longtime growth executive Javier Olivan. Mr. Olivan's group will oversee product and engineering efforts for ads, security and growth.

Write to Deepa Seetharaman at Deepa.Seetharaman@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 08, 2018 19:02 ET (23:02 GMT)

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