UFC CEO Dana White will join Meta’s board of directors, the company announced today. The mixed martial arts impresario’s addition not only aligns with Mehta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s well-documented UFC fan base, but also with the support Mehta seems to be using in the run-up to Trump’s second term. It also influences the larger strategy of moving in the right direction.
But that doesn’t mean White’s board seat is typical. Most of Meta’s current board members work in the technology industry. The two members Mehta is adding in addition to White, John Elkann and Charlie Songhurst, fit the usual requirements for social media companies. White may have said in Meta’s press release that he “strongly believes social media and AI are the future,” but perhaps the more important reason he’s joining the company now is that he’s a big believer in the company’s It will probably be maintained.
Dana White and President-elect Donald Trump are longtime friends. White supports Trump’s re-election campaign, and the UFC as a whole is a good fit for his strongman aspirations. Adding Mr. White to the board is as much about giving Mr. Zuckerberg access to the incoming Trump administration as it is about polishing his self-image. The president-elect may have thought at one point that Zuckerberg should spend the rest of his life in prison, but Meta’s CEO is doing everything he can to curry favor with Zuckerberg.
Zuckerberg visited Mar-a-Lago in November 2024 and had dinner with Trump. Trump is one of several such tech CEOs. Meta is also adjusting its executive ranks to better work with conservative governments. The company’s former global president, Nick Clegg, announced just last week that Meta’s most prominent Republican executive, Joel Kaplan, would be stepping down to replace him. Mr. Kaplan’s accomplishments include eight years in the Bush administration. Zuckerberg has been in UFC mode for a while now, and so will the meta for at least the next four years.
