Joe Lockhart Has Left Facebook
After 15 months on the job, Facebook's VP of communications Joe Lockhart is leaving the social network because he doesn't like the West Coast, though the timing suggests otherwise. "Joe ultimately came to the decision that he didn't want to leave the East Coast, and obviously we understand that decision. ... His roots on the East Coast are very deep," a Facebook spokesperson told Politico's Mike Allen and Elizabeth Wasserman. But maybe it has a little something to do with the company's recent not-so-great IPO? Just a theory. Since the social network's public offering in May, in which shares drooped from an opening $38 to $21 today, three executives have left the company. "Once employees can liquidate their holdings in an IPO, companies frequently experience a 'brain drain' in talent," explained The Digits' Shayndi Raice.
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Back when Facebook hired him, Lockhart didn't seem to have a problem with moving, saying he planned a Bay Area relocation after his daughter graduated high school. Lockhart, a former press secretary for Bill Clinton, came aboard as Facebook hired many Washington insiders, as a part of its efforts to bulk up its lobbying side. Back east, Lockhart will have some sort of consulting gig, some of which might involve Facebook, says AllThingsD's Mike Issac.
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