Facebook executive to step down

by Staff, Brand Republic 20-Feb-08, 14:30

SAN FRANCISCO - Facebook has confirmed that its chief revenue officer, Owen Van Natta, is to leave the company after two-and-a-half years.

Van Natta joined the social networking site in September 2005 and was one of the key executives behind the site's early-stage development. His remit included business development and forging strategic partnerships.

He was credited with playing a key part in negotiating a deal with Microsoft, in which the software giant took a £120m stake in the site and the rights to sell advertising outside the US.

The deal, which gave Microsoft a 1.6% stake in Facebook, valued the site at £7.3bn.

Before joining the Palo Alto, California-based company, Van Natta was Amazon.com's vice-president of worldwide business and corporate development.