Netscape founder Andreessen joins Facebook board

by Jacquie Bowser, Brand Republic 01-Jul-08, 14:25

LONDON - Facebook has appointed Netscape founder and Silicon Valley entrepreneur Marc Andreessen to its board of directors.

Andreessen, who is also a former chief technical officer at AOL, joins Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's founder, and venture capitalists Peter Thiel and Jim Breyer, on the social networking site's board.

Andreesen was one of those behind the development of Mosaic, which was the first major web browser that for a while rivalled Internet Explorer, and most recently co-founded Ning, a website that allows users to create their own social network with any design and in any language.

Andreessen said: "Facebook is one of the most innovative companies on the web and it is an honour to join the board. I am looking forward to helping the team as Facebook continues to grow."

The Silicon Valley veteran will remain with Ning full time and retain his chairman title.

Zuckerberg said: "Marc is an industry leader, and we're fortunate to have him join our board.

"He has experience that is relevant to Facebook in so many ways: scaling companies that are experiencing extraordinary growth, creating successful technology platforms, and building strong engineering organizations.

"I know Marc will be a great mentor to me and our leadership team."

Andreessen is also an investor in social news website Digg and several social media start-ups including Netvibes and Twitter.