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Meta says Broadcom CEO Hock Tan is joining board of directors

Lucas Jackson | Reuters

Hock Tan, CEO of Broadcom

  • Meta said Wednesday that Broadcom CEO Hock Tan and former Enron executive John Arnold are joining the company's board of directors.
  • Former Meta operating chief Sheryl Sandberg said last month she would step down from the company's board and won't stand for reelection in May.
  • Meta's board additions underscore the company's efforts to expand its data center and computing infrastructure as part of its massive investments into AI and the metaverse.

Meta said Wednesday that Broadcom CEO president Hock Tan and philanthropist and former Enron executive John Arnold are joining the company's board of directors.

Tan has been leading the semiconductor giant since 2006, giving him extensive international experience working in computing infrastructure technology. Meta is investing heavily in developing advanced infrastructure to fuel its growth in artificial intelligence (and artificial general intelligence, or AGI) and its buildout of the metaverse.

"As we focus on building AGI, having directors with deep expertise in silicon and energy infrastructure will help us execute our long term vision," Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement.

The technical backgrounds of the incomers contrast with former Meta operating chief Sheryl Sandberg, who recently said she would step down from the company's board. Sandberg joined the company from Google and helped Zuckerberg nurture Facebook from a startup to a digital advertising giant.

"Meta has an incredible role to play in the next-generation of computing as it evolves its platform and apps offerings for the future," Tan said in the statement.

Arnold is co-founder Arnold Ventures philanthropy, which is headquartered in Houston. He was also the co-founder and chairman of energy company Grid United and once worked at Enron, where he oversaw "trading of natural gas derivatives," according to the announcement. 

Tan and Arnold join a board that includes former PayPal Executive Vice President Peggy Alford, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, Dropbox CEO Drew Houston, former U.S. deputy secretary of the treasury Robert M. Kimmitt and DoorDash CEO Tony Xu.

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