Peter Thiel to step down from the Meta board

Venture capitalist Peter Thiel will step down from his long-standing position on the board of Meta (formerly Facebook). On Monday, the New York Times reported the news and Meta confirmed it in a press release, saying Thiel would continue in the role until the company's annual meeting of shareholders.

The Times cites an unnamed source as saying Thiel is retiring to focus on the US midterm elections in November. Thiel did not detailed on why he is leaving in an official statement, nor did Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. "Peter has been a valuable member of our board and I'm deeply grateful for everything he has done for our company," said Zuckerberg. "Peter is truly an original thinker who you can bring your hardest problems and get unique suggestions. He has served on our board for almost two decades, and we've always known that at some point he would devote his time to other interests."

Thiel was an early investor in Facebook along with many other tech companies, joining the company's board of directors in 2005. But in recent years, he was better known for his conservative political advocacy. After publicly supporting former President Donald Trump's campaign in 2016, Thiel has donated more quietly to Republican candidates including Kris Kobach (who lost an election for a Kansas Senate seat despite Thiel's endorsement), the author of Hillbilly Elegy, J.D. Vance, and his former business partner Blake Masters. Zuckerberg has earlier resisted calls to cut ties with Thiel and has defended his presence on the board, something that became particularly controversial after Thiel endorsed Trump.

Thiel's departure comes soon after Meta announced disappointing quarterly financial results, including Facebook's first loss of daily active users, and suffered a 25 percent market value drop.