Facebook is losing its last Oculus co-founder
Facebook spent billions on Oculus in 2014, and in the years since the organization has been absorbed deeper into Facebook while the startup's co-founders have stepped back in prominence. Today, the final Oculus co-founder remaining at Facebook, Nate Mitchell, announced in an internal memo sent to employees that he was leaving the company.
The news was first reported by Alex Heath at The Information. Mitchell confirmed the news soon after on Twitter.
Some bittersweet news to share. After 7 incredible years at Oculus / Facebook, I'm moving on. It's been a privilege to be a part of the VR community, and I can't wait to see what comes next: https://t.co/M3XWASigvS pic.twitter.com/dhzPrdmpuP
- Nate Mitchell (@natemitchell) August 13, 2019
We've reached out to Facebook for comment.
In a note on Reddit, Mitchell said he was leaving the company and would be "taking time to travel, be with family, and recharge."
Mitchell was Oculus's head of product management for virtual reality.
Mitchell's role has shifted several times in the past few years at the company as the VR organization underwent a number of leadership shakeups. Late last year, the company's former CEO Brendan Iribe left the company following disagreements with the team on the future of Oculus's high-end products. The company's central co-founder, Palmer Luckey, had a much more high-profile departure from the company in 2017, following an odd, convoluted scandal that involved him paying for a billboard for an anti-Clinton political group aligned with Reddit's r/The_Donald community.