Brendan Iribe, VR headset maker Oculus’ co-founder, is leaving the company, Iribe announced in a Facebook post. Iribe did not say why he was leaving, nor where he is headed. Oculus was founded in 2012 and was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for $2 billion. At the time, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had said that Oculus would continue to operate independently within Facebook. Iribe’s co-founder Palmer Luckey left Facebook in March last year under unclear and dicey circumstances. However, Iribe’s exit probably does not come as a surprise, given the current climate under which Facebook operates: Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, Instagram’s CEO and CTO, said that they would quit the company last month. The two did not give any reason for their exit. Facebook acquired Instagram for $1 billion in 2012. Earlier this year, WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum, who was also a board member of Facebook, quit the company after disagreements with the Facebook leadership over privacy and encryption. Facebook acquired WhatsApp for $19 billion in 2014. Other hires and exits Instagram COO Marne Levine is moving to Facebook as VP of global partnerships and business development, a job held by longtime executive Dan Rose until recently. Facebook’s communications head Rachel Whetstone departed for Netflix in August. Alex Stamos, chief security officer, said in August that he would be leaving the company. Facebook’s chief legal officer Colin Stretch announced he’ll be leaving by the end of 2018. Our Facebook coverage here.
