CEO versus Sport

Source: Flickr_Mark Zuckerberg F8 2018 Keynote _ Anthony Quintano

Read about Mark Zuckerberg’s comeback into extreme sports and how this new development has become the cause of worry for Meta.

In recent news, Meta (formerly Facebook) reported that the CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, was returning into extreme sports. It seems that Zuckerberg is extremely passionate about extreme sports, including combat sports and recreational aviation, and had decided to get back into it. This renewed interest caught the eye of media portals as well as the investors and well-wishers of Meta, who have expressed their concern over Zuckerberg getting injured seriously during one of his routines.

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, is widely known for creating the social media platform and for his hands-on leadership style, and vision for the future of technology. He appears in a lot of headlines now and then, with one of the most recent being his fight with Elon Musk which was put on hold. Since then, he has trained extensively, and participated in MMA sports and other recreational activities which pose a threat to his safety and to his business as well.

Meta reports

Meta discussed the potential risks posed by Zuckerberg’s passion for extreme sports in a recent annual report filed to the Security and Exchange Commission. According to this report, his practicing combat sports poses a significant risk to his wellbeing which, in turn, is going to affect how their business fares. Their concern is legitimate considering the fact that:

Zuckerberg plays a significant role in leading the multinational corporation and if anything were to happen to him, it could be a heavy blow on the company’s working.
Investors have to assess the risks related to the company’s future and most of this is connected to how the leader’s work. Zuckerberg’s participation can be a cause of worry for them and affect credibility in the future.

It should be noted that the report also mentioned other people in the company who also engaged in such activities and are equally important in the company’s operation. Another thing to be noted is that Zuckerberg might not be the only CEO who is delving into such activities but Meta is surely one of the only corporations that chose to address this impact directly.

Has it happened before?

While Meta is worrying about what will happen to the company if Zuckerberg faces harm, there are many different kinds of examples from history, which we can look at to understand what happens to a company if it is overly reliant on one person.

When Steve Fossett, adventurer and businessman, died in 2007, his wealth was distributed between his family and charitable foundations. Steve had made sure that he didn’t have a direct corporate connection, which meant that his passing had a small impact on his company and caused less harm. A similar case was noted for Walmart heir, John Walton, who died in a plane crash in 2005 while vacationing. Walton wasn’t running Walmart directly and the company had a strong position and diversified leadership structure which meant that the company stocks faced minimal impact even when he wasn’t there.

The case of the HNA group is very different from these two though. When the co-founder, Wang Jian, died while vacationing in France. HNA was facing financial difficulties already when Wang died, but his death was the final nail on HNA’s coffin. The debt issues of the group worsened and soon, the company declined after losing the confidence of its investors. Their one fault? Not preparing for the future.

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