Facebook more than doubles Zuckerberg compensation to US$22.6m

[BENGALURU] Facebook Inc chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg's compensation for 2018 more than doubled to US$22.6 million, a regulatory filing showed on Friday.

Facebook has in the past few years faced public outcry over its role in Russia's alleged influence on the 2016 US presidential election and has come under fire following revelations that Cambridge Analytica obtained personal data from millions of Facebook profiles without consent.

Even though Mr Zuckerberg has been drawing a base salary of US$1 for the past three years, his "other" compensation was listed at US$22.6 million, nearly half of which was for his personal security.

Chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg took home US$23.7 million in 2018 compared to US$25.2 million last year.

Separately, Facebook said Netflix chief executive officer Reed Hastings would vacate his seat on the social media company's board and not be nominated for re-election.

Mr Hastings' departure comes as the Menlo Park-based company beefs up its push into videos. Mr Hastings has served on Facebook's board since 2011.

The company also said it would nominate PayPal's senior vice-president of core markets, Peggy Alford, to its board in place of University of North Carolina president emeritus Erskine Bowles, who will also not be re-nominated.

Facebook shares closed at US$179.07 Friday evening.

REUTERS