Meta’s Communications Chief Leaves Company

John Pinette, head of communications at Facebook’s parent company Meta, will be quitting the company, Reuters reported Friday (Jan. 7).

“John Pinette has left Meta,” a Meta spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement. “We are thankful for his positive contributions during an intense and significant time in the company’s history, and we wish him well going forward.”

There was no confirmation on why he quit, with Meta citing a company policy of not discussing personnel matters.

Pinette had been in the role since April 2019. In the past, he led communication for Gates Ventures, Bill Gates’ private office and innovation labs. He was also the head of Asia Pacific communications for Google, and has held several product and corporate communications leadership positions at Microsoft.

Chris Norton, vice president of international communications, plans to cover Pinette’s old role at Meta for now.

Meta has seen several exits of well-known employees, including that of Novi head David Marcus and Tomer Barel, co-creator of the company’s crypto initiative.

Related: Another Facebook Executive Plans to Exit

Neither Marcus nor Barel had immediate plans following their departures, saying they didn’t leave to take new positions elsewhere.

In a LinkedIn post, Barel said it had been a “once in a lifetime experience” to get Novi off the ground, and said it “taught me new stuff every day.”

Another recent exodus from Meta was Andrea Schubert, the company’s communications and public relations head for augmented reality (AR). She was reported to be considering a move to Apple.

See also: Next Meta Exec Rumored to Exit Is PR Head Andrea Schubert

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman wrote in his newsletter that Apple “is starting to get its ducks in a row,” referring to the tech giant’s plans to roll out a mixed reality headset, as well as the possible hiring of Schubert.

Schubert used to be the communications director for Meta’s Reality Labs, and was also the leader of the AR, XR, Portal and Research communications teams at Reality Labs.

She also worked as communications manager for Oculus and the Oculus product communications lead from 2016 to 2020, overseeing communication of all headsets during that time.