UFC’s Dana White signs up with Meta’s board weeks prior to Trump takes workplace

Dana White, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and a long time good friend of President- choose Donald Trump, is signing up with the board of Facebook moms and dad Meta 2 weeks prior to the brand-new Trump management starts.

Meta CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Mark Zuckerberg, that had a specifically strained partnership with Trump throughout the president-elect’s very first term in workplace, stated in a Facebook blog post Monday that White has actually constructed the UFC “into one of the most valuable, fastest growing, and most popular sports enterprises in the world.”

“I’ve admired him as an entrepreneur and his ability to build such a beloved brand,” Zuckerberg stated in the blog post.

Zuckerberg has actually been exercising combined fighting styles over the last few years and has actually gone to a number of UFC occasions, highlighting his interest for the fight sporting activity.

In 2023, Zuckerberg tore his ACL throughout a competing session as component of training for an affordable mixed martial arts battle. That year, Zuckerberg and Tesla CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Elon Musk traded spoken barbs and showed that they wanted to combat each various other in a suit that White would certainly assist create. But Zuckerberg later on said the battle was off because Musk had not been “serious.”

White showed up with Trump onstage on political election evening in November after the success remained in hand.

“This is what happens when the machine comes after you,” White stated, after being presented byTrump “What you’ve seen over the last several years, this is what it looks like. Couldn’t stop him, he keeps going forward, he doesn’t quit, he’s the most resilient hardworking man I’ve ever met in my life.”

Last month, Meta validated that the firm had actually given away $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund. Zuckerberg was likewise among a number of technology execs that went to Trump at his Mar- a-Lago hotel in Palm Beach, Florida, adhering to the political election.

White, that has actually led UFC given that 2001, ended up being involved in conflict 2 years earlier after a video clip released by TMZ revealed him slapping his spouse at a New Year’s Eve event inMexico White released a public apology, and his spouse, Anne White, released a declaration to TMZ, calling it a separated case.

Musk has actually had his very own links to UFC in the current past. In 2021, Musk signed up with the board of Ari Emanuel’s Endeavor Group, which possesses the UFC via TKOGroup Holdings He left a year later on.

Other brand-new participants of Meta’s board consist of John Elkann, the CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER of Italian holding firm Exor, and previous Microsoft head of business technique Charlie Songhurst, Zuckerberg stated.

Elkann is chairman of Exor’s auto business Stellantis and Ferrari, while Songhurst has actually invested the previous year on Meta’s advising team aiding the firm with its expert system and modern technology techniques, Zuckerberg included.

“We have massive opportunities ahead in AI, wearables, and the future of social media, and our board will help us achieve our vision,” Zuckerberg stated.

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