Mark Zuckerberg poses with UFC President Dana White throughout a UFC Battle Night time occasion.
Jeff Bottari | Ufc | Getty Photographs
Dana White, CEO of the Final Preventing Championship and a longtime pal of President-elect Donald Trump, will be part of the board of Fb dad or mum firm Meta two weeks earlier than the brand new Trump administration begins.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who had a very tense relationship with Trump through the president-elect’s first time period, stated in a Fb submit Monday that White has constructed the UFC “into one of the crucial worthwhile, fastest-growing and hottest sports activities firms. on this planet.”
“I’ve admired him as an entrepreneur and his capability to construct such a beloved model,” Zuckerberg stated within the submit.
Zuckerberg has been working towards combined martial arts lately and has attended a number of UFC occasions, which underlines his enthusiasm for the fight sport.
In 2023, Zuckerberg tore his ACL throughout a sparring session as a part of coaching for a aggressive MMA struggle. That 12 months, Zuckerberg and Tesla CEO Elon Musk traded verbal barbs and indicated a willingness to struggle one another in a contest that White would assist produce. However Zuckerberg later stated the struggle was stopped as a result of Musk wasn’t “critical.”
White appeared with Trump on stage on election evening in November after victory was inside attain.
“That is what occurs when the machine comes after you,” White stated after being launched by Trump. “What you’ve got seen through the years, that is what it seems to be like. I could not cease him, he retains going, he does not quit, he is essentially the most resilient, hardworking man I’ve ever met in my life.”
Final month, Meta confirmed that the corporate had donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund. Zuckerberg was additionally considered one of a number of tech executives who visited Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Seashore, Florida, after the election.
White, who has managed UFC since 2001, grew to become embroiled in controversy two years in the past after a video revealed by TMZ confirmed him punching his spouse at a New Yr’s Eve social gathering in Mexico. White publicly apologized and his spouse, Anne White, launched an announcement to TMZ calling it an remoted incident.
Musk has had his personal connections to UFC within the current previous. In 2021, Musk joined the board of Ari Emanuel’s Endeavor Group, which owns the UFC by way of TKO Group Holdings. He left a 12 months later.
Different new members of Meta’s board embrace John Elkann, the CEO of Italian holding firm Exor, and former CEO Microsoft head of company technique Charlie Songhurst, Zuckerberg stated.
Elkann is chairman of Exor’s automobile firms Stellantis and Ferrari, whereas Songhurst spent the previous 12 months in Meta’s advisory group serving to the corporate with its synthetic intelligence and know-how methods, Zuckerberg added.
“We now have great alternatives forward in AI, wearables and the way forward for social media, and our board will assist us notice our imaginative and prescient,” Zuckerberg stated.
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