Nick Clegg, the former British Deputy Prime Minister, has resigned as president of global media and communications at Meta, having sold nearly $19m (£15m) worth of shares in the six-year-old giant.
Clegg, 57, still retains around 39,000 shares in Meta, worth around $21m at the current market price. His total salary package for the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp has not been disclosed publicly. He will be succeeded by his deputy, Joel Kaplan, a former member of the George W Bush administration and widely regarded as the most prominent conservative influence in the company.
Clegg’s exit has sparked fresh speculation about his next move, with supporters suggesting he may take a role in artificial intelligence. He was very critical of the regulation of AI, very much in line with the position of Tony Blair, another former prime minister, who championed the power of AI to transform public services. Clegg argued last year that more attention was being paid to risks than to technological opportunities.
Friends said Clegg, who returned to London in 2022, was open to a public or private role in Europe. His wife, Miriam, is said to have her own political ambitions and recently founded a thinktank in Spain.
Clegg’s decision to join Facebook in 2018, shortly after receiving a knighthood, was met with criticism due to his prominent role in the pro-Remain campaign and the People’s Vote movement. He explained at the time, in a Guardian column, that he saw no benefit in extending his political involvement at home once he had committed to moving to Silicon Valley.
Filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) show that Meta’s most recent sale to Clegg took place in November, for an estimated $4m. His tenure at the company coincided with intense political pressure on data protection, fake news, and oversight issues. However, that time proved to be beneficial for the former leader of the Liberal Democrats, who led his party to a coalition with David Cameron’s Conservatives in 2010, only to lose his seat in 2017.
In a parting post on Facebook, Clegg described his time at Meta as “the adventure of a lifetime”, saying he was proud to help ensure that innovation was accompanied by “transparency, accountability” and “new forms of governance”.
