Facebook has hired eBay's PayPal President David Marcus to lead its mobile messaging products, suggesting a new push by the social network in the communication stream.
President of eBay's payment business, PayPal, is stepping down from his current position to join Facebook as a lead of mobile messaging products business. David Marcus will leave his current employer later this month, almost three years after joining PayPal after his company Zong was acquired. Marcus' new role at the world's biggest social networking firm is widely seen as Facebook's push toward deeper interests in mobile messaging.
Facebook also announced Marcus' appointment in an official blog post, Monday. The social network highlighted Marcus' achievements during his course of employment at PayPal and said his experience will take Facebook's messaging business to new heights. According to the company's spokeswoman Vanessa Chan, Marcus will directly report to CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Javier Olivan, who supervises growth at Facebook, Bloomberg reports. Sources also confirmed that Marcus will turn the unprofitable Facebook Messenger into a revenue generating model for the social network.
"Mark [Zuckerberg] shared a compelling vision about Mobile Messaging. At first, I didn't know whether another big company gig was a good thing for me, but Mark's enthusiasm, and the unparalleled reach and consumer engagement of the Facebook platform ultimately won me over," Marcus wrote in his detailedFacebook post about his departure from PayPal. "So... yes. I'm excited to go to Facebook to lead Messaging Products. And I'm looking forward to getting my hands dirty again attempting to build something new and meaningful at scale.
Messaging is a core part of Facebook, with apps like Messenger and recently acquired WhatsApp helping connect people across the world. Facebook said 12 billion messages are sent every day on its social network and its Messenger app has more than 200 million monthly active users. Facebook deeply invested in messaging when it acquired WhatsApp for $19 billion, which continues to operate independently.
Marcus will leave PayPal on June 27 to join Facebook and during his absence, eBay President and CEO John Donahoe will fill in the gap until a new appointment is made, Wall Street Journal reports.
News of Marcus' appointment comes the same day as the social network accidentally leaked its Snapchat rival Slingshot on Apple App Store in select countries. With no specific date revealed for the official launch of the app, it now appears the company is waiting for the new leader of the messaging division to have a final look at it. Facebook said Slingshot will soon be available for download.
