FB Stock Fallout: Post-IPO Facebook Brain Drain Begins?

FB Brain Drain? Facebook CTO Bret Taylor to leave for new startup with ex-Google Engineer

Staff Report

MENLO PARK, CA - The Sydney Morning Herald recently asked, "Is this the start of the Facebook brain drain?" This is an interesting question as FB stock managed a small rally last week, landing just above 30 a share after trading last Friday.

Yesterday, Bret Taylor, Facebook's Chief Technology Officer announced he was leaving the company on his Facebook page.It is the first departure of a high-profile Facebook executive since the FB IPO on May 18.  

The news was first reported by AllThingsD.

Savvy tech investors have been wondering about "brain drain" after the social network's IPO, which created more than one millionaire.

"I've really enjoyed working with Bret and getting to know him as a friend and teammate," said Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg in a statement.

"I'm grateful for all he has done for Facebook and I'm proud of what he and his teams have built. I'm also proud that we have a culture where great entrepreneurs like Bret join us and have such a big impact."

Here is what Bret Taylor wrote on his Facebook Timeline Wall:

I wanted to let you all know that I'll be leaving Facebook later this summer. I'm sad to be leaving, but I'm excited to be starting a company with my friend Kevin Gibbs.

While a transition like this is never easy, I'm extremely confident in the teams and leadership we have in place. I'm very proud of our recent accomplishments in our platform and mobile products, from Open Graph and App Center to Facebook Camera and our iOS integration. I'm even more excited for the world to see all the amazing things these teams have coming.

I've learned more than I ever imagined in my time at Facebook. I'm also extremely grateful for my relationship with all of the amazing people I've worked with here.

I want to give a special thanks to Mark Zuckerberg. You've not only been my boss for the past three years, but my mentor and one of my closest friends.

Thanks to all of you at Facebook for the most incredible three years of my life.

Facebook Facing Lawsuits

Even before the FB IPO, the company was facing lawsuits, including several over privacy concerns. Then, after the Facebook IPO, there were other lawsuits brought to court, primarily over the handling of the IPO as well as accusations that not everyone received the same information about revenue projections for the company.

After launching at a higher than $38 price per share, FB stock quickly tumbled and has not returned to the initial share price, which valued the fledgling company at around $100 billion, even though their 2011 revenue was only around $4 billion with about $1 billion in profits.