Facebook announced that its Chief Product Officer Chris Cox and head of messaging app WhatsApp Chris Daniels will be leaving the company. The move come amidst the social networking company's strategies to apparently make its platforms more focused on and sensitive towards users' privacy.
Cox was involved in leading product teams, running the Facebook app, and designing strategy for the company's various other apps, according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg's blog post. “For a few years, Chris has been discussing with me his desire to do something else. He is one of the most talented people I know and he has the potential to do anything he wants”, Zuckerberg says in his post. while adding “At this point, we have made real progress on many issues and we have a clear plan for our apps, centered around making private messaging, stories and groups the foundation of the experience, including enabling encryption and interoperability across our services.” Cox has been at the company for more than 13 years.
Zuckerberg also wrote that Chris Daniels would also be resigning. He mentioned that Daniels has been a part of several important roles in the company including running its business development team, leading the Internet.org initiative and working on WhatsApp business model. “I’ve really enjoyed working with Chris and I’m sure he will do great work at whatever he chooses to take on next”, said Zuckerberg. Daniels joined the company in 2011.
Zuckerberg also revealed in his blog that Will Cathcart will be the new head of WhatsApp. Cathcart had recently run the Facebook app, Zuckerberg’s post reads. Fidji Simo will be the new head of the Facebook app.