It's not even been a month that Facebook Inc. went public and while the social networking company is just seeking to recoup from its botched IPO, it has got into troubled waters again.
In a recent announcement,is the high profile, chief technical officer (CTO) of the company Bret Taylor has revealed on his Facebook page that he will quit his service offerings to the world's leading social network later this summer and is now prepping up to start a new company with a friend Kevin Gibbs, an engineer at Google Inc. However, Taylor has not yet disclosed what his next venture will be like.
Further, reports also inform that a spokesman for Google has confirmed that Gibbs too is leaving Google.
"I've really enjoyed working with Bret and getting to know him as a friend and teammate," Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said in an email response to an AFP inquiry.
"I'm grateful for all he has done for Facebook and I'm proud of what he and his teams have built."
Taylor cited accomplishments including the "open graph" that lets outside websites or applications sync with the social network and mobile products such as Facebook Camera and integration with Apple gadgets.
"I'm sad to be leaving, but I'm excited to be starting a company with my friend Kevin Gibbs," Taylor said, not indicating what the new enterprise would be.
"While a transition like this is never easy, I'm extremely confident in the teams and leadership we have in place."
He referred to Zuckerberg not only as his boss for three years, but as among his closest friends.
It is common for startup employees made rich by the initial public offering of stock to leave companies to pursue dreams or new endeavors, according to analysts who anticipated that it might happen at Facebook.
Why Resign?
Analysts are assuming that Taylor's departure has come at a point when Facebook is trying to ratchet up products and services to woo more developers and users to its site. Since its IPO May 17, when it raised $16 billion, Facebook's shares have tumbled on concerns ad revenue growth won't keep pace with membership growth as more users access the service on mobile phones.
Taylor has been at Facebook since 2009, joining after the Menlo Park company bought FriendFeed, a social service startup. Taylor and three other Google employees had started FriendFeed two years earlier, providing a service that let people post videos and updates from other sites on the Web.
Facebook's new services include "Facebook Camera," a mobile application that highlights members' photos, and the App Center, which helps users find mobile software for their devices.
The news of Taylor's departure came the same day, after more information about Facebook's IPO came to light in newly released correspondence with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Facebook, which has lost $22.5 billion in market value since its initial public offering, told regulators before its debut that the proposed price range reflected the fair value estimated earlier this year.
It set a proposed IPO price range of $28 to $35 a share on April 25, based on a projected fair value of $30.89, according to the SEC correspondence.
According to All Things Digital reports, a pair of Facebook execs under Taylor - Mike Vernal and Cory Ondreijka - will be taking over platform and mobile, respectively.
Vernal joined Facebook in 2008 from Microsoft, leading the original Facebook Connect project and is also working on platform efforts and the development of Open Graph. While, Ondrejka was absorbed by the company in 2010 through the acquisition of Walletin and has previously worked at Linden Labs on Second Life virtual worlds.
