More marketing and smartphone execs after having lost another one last week.
Yet another group of key employees have walked away from Facebook mobile and marketing, which has become quite a trend with the company since May when its IPO was so poorly received.
The last seven days have been especially painful as three more defections took place.
The first to announce his departure was Ethen Beard, who was responsible for developing top app maker relationships with the company. Since then, a platform marketing director, Katie Mitic, announced that she would soon be leaving. Not long afterward, Jonathan Matus, the mobile platform marketing manager, also said that he would be leaving Facebook.
This follows on the heels of a recent Facebook mobile loss of chief technology officer Bret Taylor.
Taylor’s departure in June was one of the most high profile exits that have occurred from the social networking giant. His reason for leaving was to start his own business. In July, Carl Sjorgreen, the Open Graph product manager gave his notice, as well.
Losing all of these key Facebook mobile and marketing employees just as the announcement came of the $157 million loss in the second quarter won’t be sending the company’s shares in a very positive direction. Last week, they fell to $20.72, which is well below their starting price at $38.
Additional questions and concerns about the business of Facebook mobile and online advertising has also hurt the company, bringing its valuation down from $43.5 billion from having previously been $100 billion.
Experts believe that there may be another decline for Facebook mobile on August 17, 2012, as it experiences its first lockup period for stock ends, in which time early investors and employees may be able to sell some of their shares.
As Facebook mobile sees its talent drain away, it only further highlights how stiff the Silicon Valley competition is for highly skilled employees. There is tremendous temptation for these workers – even those at the social networking giant – to begin to tinker with startup companies where they may be able to hold more power, control, and influence.
