Nick Clegg, the former British deputy prime minister, has stepped down as president of global affairs and communications at Meta after selling nearly $19 million worth of the tech giant’s shares during his six-year term.
Clegg, 57, still owns nearly 39,000 Meta shares, worth about $21 million at the current market price. His total pay package at the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp has not been made public. He will be succeeded by his deputy, Joel Kaplan, a former member of George W. Bush’s administration and widely seen as the most prominent conservative influence within the company.
Clegg’s departure has sparked fresh speculation about his next move, with allies suggesting he could play a role in artificial intelligence. He has been critical of regulating AI, aligning more closely with the position of Tony Blair, another former prime minister, who advocates AI’s potential to transform public services. Clegg argued last year that too much attention was being paid to the risks rather than the opportunities of the technology.
Friends say Clegg, who returned to London in 2022, is open to a role in the public or private sector in Europe. His wife, Miriam, is said to have her own political ambitions and recently founded a think tank in Spain.
Clegg’s decision to join Facebook in 2018, shortly after being knighted, was criticized for his prominent role in the pro-Remain campaign and the People’s Vote movement. He explained in a Guardian column at the time that he saw no point in continuing his political engagement at home after committing to a move to Silicon Valley.
Filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) show that Clegg’s most recent sale of Meta stock took place in November, worth about $4 million. His tenure at the company coincided with intense political pressure over data protection, fake news and regulatory oversight issues. However, that period has proven lucrative for the former leader of the Liberal Democrats, who led his party into a coalition with David Cameron’s Conservatives in 2010, but lost his seat in 2017.
In a farewell post on Facebook, Clegg described his time at Meta as “the adventure of a lifetime”, and said he is proud to have ensured that innovation goes hand in hand with “transparency, accountability” and “new forms of governance ”.