Marc Andreessen to officially join Facebook board this week
Facebook will announce this week that it's brought Silicon Valley wunderkind turned Web 2.0 grumpy grandpa Marc Andreessen onto its board of directors. Andresseen will fill one of the two open seats on Facebook's five-person board. Founder Mark Zuckerberg and investors Peter Thiel and Jim Breyer make up the rest.
Through voting rights, Zuckerberg controls both the seat Andreessen fills and the remaining vacancy, so it's not surprising to see Zuckerberg picked an entrepreneur-friendly, don't-sell-if-you-don't-have-to mentor like Andreessen to join the board. Some Facebook shareholders are already offloading stock, perhaps growing impatient with Zuckerberg's slow progress toward an IPO. Other CEOs might be worried about retaining investors' goodwill. Zuckerberg, free to pack the board with another ally after Andreessen, doesn't have to. Jealous?