A longtime advertising product executive at Meta is set to depart the company in May, as noted in an internal memo reviewed by Reuters. This announcement comes during a period of restructuring characterized by a focus on efficiency, dubbed the “year of efficiency” by Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg.
Dan Levy, who currently holds the position of vice president of business messaging, shared his decision on Meta’s internal social network on Monday, citing a desire to spend more time with family following the loss of a child to leukemia.
“I made this decision slowly (over the last 2+ years) and then all of a sudden,” Levy mentioned in his post.
A spokesperson for Meta confirmed Levy’s upcoming departure, assuring that business messaging will continue to be a key focus and area of investment for the organization in the coming year.
Levy has been with Meta for 14 years. Despite being identified by Zuckerberg as a key area for growth, he was reassigned last year from his role overseeing the ads and business products division, now known as Monetization. John Hegeman, who previously reported to Levy, took over that division.
This larger unit has been pivotal in Meta’s response to significant changes in Apple’s iOS privacy policies enacted in 2021. The adjustments resulted in substantial challenges for Meta by limiting access to vital user data that underpins its targeted advertising model.
In an effort to counterbalance this “signal loss,” the division has been pursuing the development of in-app commerce capabilities while also integrating artificial intelligence to refine ad targeting accuracy, with varying degrees of success.
Executives view business messaging as an essential element of the solution, given its potential to finally unlock monetization opportunities for WhatsApp—acquired by Meta for $22 billion in 2014—despite not yet generating significant revenue.
Zuckerberg has indicated that this line of business—where brands pay to use Meta’s WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram for sales and customer management—could emerge as a significant pillar of growth for the company.
Levy’s departure aligns with a challenging phase for Meta, which recently announced another major round of layoffs linked to its restructuring initiatives aimed at eliminating lower-priority projects and streamlining management layers.
Additionally, Michelle Klein, another vice president focused on advertising sales, revealed her decision to leave this week. Klein led a marketing team of nearly 1,000 people and played a crucial role in the company’s transition from Facebook to Meta, as per her LinkedIn profile.
Meta has acknowledged Klein’s departure, though she has not yet responded to inquiries for further details.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
