Topline
Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Monday that UFC President Dana White will be joining his company’s board of directors, bringing on the prominent Donald Trump backer less than two weeks before the president-elect is set to take office.
Zuckerberg has attended several UFC events. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Zuffa LLC via Getty ImagesKey Facts
Zuckerberg made the announcement in a Facebook post, saying he admired White “as an entrepreneur and his ability to build such a beloved brand” and that Meta’s new board will help the company capitalize on “massive opportunities ahead in AI, wearables, and the future of social media.”
White, the CEO and president of the UFC, has helped build the popular mixed martial arts promotion to a billion-dollar business and been in closer proximity with Zuckerberg in the last few years as the billionaire tech chief has taken a public interest in martial arts and attended several UFC events.
White, who endorsed all three of Trump’s runs for president, will join the Meta board not long before the president-elect takes office on Jan. 20 (Trump has attended multiple UFC events and most recently made an appearance at UFC 309 alongside some of his cabinet picks).
Meta also announced John Elkann, CEO of investment company Exor, and former Microsoft executive and tech investor Charlie Songhurst as new additions to the board alongside White.
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What Is Zuckerberg And White’s Business Relationship?
Zuckerberg and White appear to have grown closer since Zuckerberg began attending UFC events around 2022, becoming more involved in each other’s respective business since. That year, Meta announced a partnership with the UFC that brought UFC’s streaming video service to Meta Horizon Worlds, a virtual reality platform. Zuckerberg also had meetings last year with White about the use of artificial intelligence on UFC fighter rankings, according to an interview White had with TNT Sports. White said he was “totally going to fix the rankings” and that the UFC is “going to make a lot of strong moves here coming into 2025.”
Forbes Valuation
We estimate Zuckerberg’s net worth at $217.7 billion as of Monday, when the Meta chief overtook Oracle CEO Larry Ellison as the third-wealthiest person in the world.
Tangent
Zuckerberg has taken up jiu-jitsu and earned a blue belt in the fighting style, raising concern from other executives at Meta who have said his participation in combat sports is a risk to investors.
Key Background
White has spoken in support of Trump at the previous three Republican National Conventions, telling attendees at the 2024 installment Trump was “fighting to save the American dream” after reflecting on his 25-year friendship with the president-elect. Trump was an early supporter of the UFC, offering up the Trump Taj Mahal as a venue for UFC 31 and UFC 32 back in 2001. White has said he “does not give a [expletive]
” about mixing business and politics, according to the BBC, though he told The New Yorker not long after Trump’s election victory he wants “nothing to do with politics” following the 2024 election. Meanwhile, Zuckerberg has had a more spotty relationship with Trump and his allies, who have claimed Facebook’s content moderation policies favor Democrats. Zuckerberg, who called Trump “badass” in the wake of the assassination attempt on the president-elect, did not officially endorse Trump ahead of last year’s election. Meta did, however, donate $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund, along with Amazon and OpenAI’s Sam Altman, as tech leaders seek to bolster relationships with Trump ahead of his presidency.
Further Reading
Meta Denies Zuckerberg Told Trump He Can’t Vote For A Democrat (Forbes)
Mark Zuckerberg Praises ‘Badass’ Trump Response After Assassination Attempt—But Doesn’t Endorse Him (Forbes)
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