Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has a vice grip on the company. He owns about 90% of class B shares and can't be fired for life. The board is without any power at Facebook, unlike many others in the Valley. "If someone's going to get fired for this, it should be me," he said after Cambridge Analytica scandal.
When Meta announced Donald Trump would be allowed back on Facebook and Instagram, it wasn’t the company’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg who made the decision. He punted. So why is an executive who holds such control hiding from the power he has amassed? Kara has some ideas — she’s covered Mark from the jump, seen him sweat through interviews and gotten Mark to say things he probably wishes he hadn’t. So today, we then turn the tables and Kara Swisher is On with Nayeema Raza.
Together, Nayeema and Kara unpack an oral history of a company that, for far too long, hid behind the idea of being a small start-up and used that excuse to shamelessly make — and shamelessly repeat — costly mistakes. They journey through the first days of Facebook, examine how the company has navigated controversies from Cambridge Analytica to the Trump decision… and get a sense of why Kara will probably never get to interview Mark again.
You can find Kara and Nayeema on Twitter @karaswisher and @nayeema.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices