Silicon Valley leans out
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Illustration: Allie Carl/Axios
With the exception of Bluesky CEO Jay Graber and Signal CEO Meredith Whittaker, there are hardly any women leading major social media or messaging companies anymore.
Why it matters: Women and underrepresented groups are some of the internet's most active and engaged users, but they also tend to be the biggest targets of online abuse.
Zoom in: The resignation of X CEO Linda Yaccarino has left a void among Silicon Valley's leadership that doesn't seem likely to be filled anytime soon.
- Meta last week named longtime executive Connor Hayes as its new head of the Threads app. Instagram is led by Adam Mosseri. WhatsApp is led by Will Cathcart. The parent company is led by founder Mark Zuckerberg.
- YouTube tapped Neal Mohan as its new CEO in 2023, succeeding Susan Wojcicki, who led the platform for nearly a decade before her passing.
- Nirav Tolia replaced Sarah Friar as CEO of Nextdoor in 2024.
- TikTok, Twitch, Spotify, Apple, Snapchat, Pinterest, Reddit, LinkedIn, Telegram, Substack and Patreon are all led by men, although many of those companies feature women prominently elsewhere in the C-suite.
By the numbers: Big Tech's women leadership gap isn't as pronounced overall as it is within social media and messaging.
- This year, 11% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women. Within the 52 tech companies, six — or 11.5% — are women.
- Those women lead companies in computer software, computers and office equipment, information technology services, internet services, and retailing, as well as semiconductors and other electronic components.
- There are no women CEOs at social media and messaging companies on the Fortune 500 list.
Between the lines: Women executives in social media and messaging apps mostly hold leadership positions in finance, communications, human resources, legal and marketing. There are few women in leading revenue roles at these companies.
- Susan Li was named Meta's CFO in 2022, replacing David Wehner. In 2023, Ruth Porat was elevated to the role of president and chief investment officer of Google. Jen Wong is the chief operating officer at Reddit.
- Michelle Weaver serves as the CFO of Twitch. Julia Brau Donnelly is the CFO at Pinterest. Sarah Leary, the co-founder of Nextdoor, is CMO and chief global business operations officer.
- Communications chiefs at Twitch, Spotify, Snapchat, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Nextdoor, and Substack are all women.
The bottom line: In many cases, social media is still dominated by male founders, who are unlikely to relinquish their roles anytime soon.
