New Delhi: Days after the Mark Zuckerberg-led company announced significant layoffs, both WhatsApp India head, Abhijit Bose, and Meta India's public policy department, Rajeev Agarwal, resigned from their respective posts on Tuesday. Shivnath Thukral, currently Director of Public Policy for WhatsApp India, has since been named Director of Public Policy for all Meta-owned social media platforms in India, including Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram.
The news comes just days after Meta India's previous CEO Ajit Mohan left the company to work for rival Snap, the parent company of social media platform Snapchat. "I want to thank Abhijit Bose for his tremendous contribution as our first WhatsApp head in India," WhatsApp CEO Will Cathcart said in a statement. His entrepreneurial spirit has helped our group deliver innovative services that have helped millions of individuals and organizations.
There is much more WhatsApp can do for India, and we look forward to driving India's digital transformation.
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Bose joined WhatsApp India in 2019. Bose, a graduate of Harvard Business School and Cornell University, is also the co-founder and CEO of fintech startup Ezetap Mobile Solutions Pvt Ltd. He previously held positions with Oracle and Bain & Company.
Bose wrote on LinkedIn: "I am very proud of what we have built four years after joining WhatsApp as the first country head in India. I am also very much looking forward to my upcoming gig.
In my opinion, India will undergo a profound transformation over the next five years, with many of our existing pre-IPO businesses rapidly emerging as world leaders in their specialized fields.
I intend to return to the world of entrepreneurship after a short hiatus; Announcements related to this will be made soon! ,
A 1993 IAS officer, Agarwal had joined Meta India in September last year. Agarwal has also held positions as Joint Secretary in the Government of India and as Head of Public Policy for Uber India.
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According to Meta India, Agarwal resigned to pursue other opportunities. Over the past year, he has been instrumental in guiding our policy-driven initiatives in areas such as enhancing user security, privacy and programs such as GOAL to promote digital inclusion in the country.
They are also driving active engagement with key policy and regulatory stakeholders, according to a statement from Manish Chopra, Meta's director and head of partnerships. Following Mohan's resignation as the interim CEO of Meta India,
The change comes at a time when Meta has let go of up to 11,000 employees, or 13% of its global workforce, as a result of low revenue and a crowded advertising market.
The company has modestly cut staff in India, which is one of the most lucrative markets for Meta with more than 200 million users across Instagram and WhatsApp.
Meta has experienced financial difficulty in recent months. The company's profit in the third quarter of fiscal year 2023 fell more than half to $ 4.4 billion from $ 9.2 billion in the same quarter a year ago.
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The July to September quarter this year also saw a 4 per cent decline in the company's sales. However, Meta's operating revenue was $27.7 billion. So far this year, the value of Meta's shares has fallen by 73%. Disappointing September quarter earnings resulted in the stock losing $80 billion in market value.