Gm. An unexpected turn of events…
Welcome to Issue 13 of The Quest Digest, where we break down Silicon Valley news for you every week, in 3 minutes.
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Sheryl Sandberg to step down as Meta COO
Sheryl Sandberg has announced her leaving Meta after 14 years as COO. She will remain on the company’s board of directors and in a note posted on her Facebook says she plans on focusing on philanthropy, specifically helping women.
Meta’s Chief Growth Officer, Javier Olivan will step into the COO role in her place, being in charge of Meta’s ads and business products while overseeing teams related to infrastructure, analytics, marketing, corporate development, and growth.
Our Take
While Sheryl is leaving the company now, over the past few years controversies have occurred slowly leading to this departure.
2016 → The US presidential election and issues such as Cambridge Analytica and the spread of misinformation
2018 -> Posts perpetuating genocide in Myanmar
2021 → Facebook’s failure of oversight on the US Capital riot
2022 -> Allegedly pressuring the Daily Mail to kill stories about an ex-boyfriend
While Meta has told publications that Sandberg’s departure has nothing to do with these allegations and the company conducted its own investigations on these issues, these controversies created a power shift in Meta, slowing reeling back the limelight on No. 2.
OnlyFans founder’s new NFT startup, Zoop
OnlyFans founder, Tim Stokley is making his debut in web3 along with co-CEO, RJ Philips (former OnlyFans executive) by launching an NFT startup and digital trading card platform called Zoop.
Zoop, set to launch in summer is a Polygon powered platform that allows users to buy, sell, and trade 3D NFT “playing cards” of their favorite influencers and celebrities.
NFT cardholders will be able to earn points and gain special perks such as special exclusive airdrops, and access to online communities.
Our Take
Zoop said the platform is to foster “a closer connection between fan and influencer”, and noting the platform would be “family friendly” in contrast to OnlyFans.
The platform seems to be part of a growing wave and web3 model of using NFTs to connect fans to celebrities. So we see Zoop coming into some heated territory with the likes of other creator x fan models like Cameo Pass, and Crowdpad.
Elon Musk declares remote work no longer acceptable
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has reportedly sent an email to company’s executive staff with the subject line: “Remote work is no longer acceptable”. The CEO stated employees must spend a minimum of 40 hours/week in the office, or “depart Tesla”.
Our Take
The rise of remote work has led to companies offering more flexible work perks to retain and attract talent post the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Elon’s email, he said he would be willing to consider requests to work remotely under some circumstances, but indicated such requests would have to be “exceptional” to be approved.
Being an outlier to the rest of big tech, such a move could detract high-quality talent to join the company, but Elon reasons that the move is necessary to the company’s survival and output.
🔥 Press Worthy
More than 15,000 people in tech lost their jobs according to layoffs.fyi
TikTok testing a ‘clear mode’ for distraction-free scrolling
Safari reaches 1 billion users worldwide
Binance closes $500M fund to focus on web3 and blockchain adoption
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The Quest Digest is written by Hannah Ahn and edited by Brent Liang, two dropouts who hate long tech newsletters. You can sign up to our next issue below.