By KELVIN CHAN | Associated Press
Meta has appointed three new members to its board of directors, including Dana White, the president and CEO of Ultimate Fighting Championship and a familiar figure in the orbit of incoming President Donald Trump.
The social media company, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is also adding auto tycoon John Elkann and tech investor Charlie Songhurst, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post late Monday.
Tapping White to join the board could be seen as Zuckerberg’s latest maneuver to improve ties with Trump, who was once banned from Facebook. After Trump won re-election in November, Zuckerberg dined at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida and Meta donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund. Other Big Tech companies such as Amazon have donated similar amounts.
Trump is a longtime UFC fan and frequent attendee of major fights. White, on his part, has had speaking roles at the 2016, 2020 and 2024 Republican conventions and appeared on stage at Trump’s election victory party in November.
White has built UFC “into one of the most valuable, fastest growing, and most popular sports enterprises in the world,” Zuckerberg said. “I’ve admired him as an entrepreneur and his ability to build such a beloved brand.”
Zuckerberg is active in martial arts. He and fellow billionaire Elon Musk seemingly agreed to fight in a “cage match” in 2023, but it never happened.
Elkann is the CEO of Exor, a Netherlands-based investment company, and chairman of its two auto companies, Stellantis and Ferrari. Zuckerberg said Elkann has “deep experience running large global businesses and he brings an international perspective to our board.”
Songhurst previously worked at Microsoft and began advising Meta last year on artificial intelligence.