Why Mark Zuckerberg No Longer Needs Nick Clegg

DURING THE 2010 UK election campaign, Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, demonstrated the qualities his future boss, Mark Zuckerberg, would later need desperately.

Participating in a live TV debate, Clegg turned opinion polls on their head by coming across as a mild-mannered but firm leader, a man who could convincingly articulate his policy positions with ease.

Britain would end up with a hung Parliament and a coalition government. Clegg became deputy prime minister under Tory leader David Cameron, an unexpected outcome for the leader of the country's third party, which diametrically opposed many Conservative positions. It was a tense relationship that put Cameron in power for six years but torpedoed the credibility of Clegg and his party. A chance to pick up stakes in 2018 and make for California, and to earn a paycheck the likes of which he had never seen, had obvious appeal.

The coalition between Clegg and Zuckerberg, the founder of Meta Platforms, proved far more successful, though it, too, is coming to an end, Clegg announced on Thursday. Nevertheless, Clegg's role has outlived its purpose as Meta contends with a new political landscape, one in which the company must instead turn to its highest-ranking Republican executive, Joel Kaplan, who joined Meta in 2011 and will succeed Clegg as president of global affairs.