UFC CEO Dana White Joins Meta’s Board of Directors

Dana White, CEO of mixed martial arts powerhouse UFC — and a good friend of Donald Trump — is joining Meta’s board.

Meta announced White’s election to its board of directors Monday, alongside John Elkann, CEO of European investment firm Ekon, and Charlie Songhurst, former head of global corporate strategy at Microsoft. The three additional directors increases the size of Meta’s board from 10 to 13 members.

“I’ve never been interested in joining a board of directors until I got the offer to join Meta’s board,” White said in a statement. “I am a huge believer that social media and AI are the future.” He added: “I am very excited to join this incredible team and to learn more about this business from the inside. There is nothing I love more than building brands, and I look forward to helping take Meta to the next level.”

Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and CEO of Meta, said in a statement about the new board members: “Dana, John and Charlie will add a depth of expertise and perspective that will help us tackle the massive opportunities ahead with AI, wearables and the future of human connection.”

White serves as president and CEO of Las Vegas-based UFC, the world’s leading MMA organization. White is responsible for the overall strategic direction of UFC’s global business, which employs over 600 people across five continents. Under White’s leadership, UFC produces more than 40 live events annually in some of the biggest arenas around the world, while broadcasting to over 975 million households across more than 170 countries. UFC is part of TKO Group, which also houses WWE.

White also is a well-known supporter of President-elect Trump. Meta is among corporations that have donated to Trump’s inauguration fund; Zuckerberg personally directed Meta to make the $1 million donation, per the Wall Street Journal. Trump has attacked both Meta and Zuckerberg and has called Facebook “a true Enemy of the People!” Following Trump’s election victory, Zuckerberg traveled to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to have dinner with the president-elect.

Elkann is CEO of Exor, one of Europe’s largest investment companies, controlled by the Agnelli family (of the late Giovanni Agnelli, who was one of the original founders of Fiat). Elkann is also executive chair of Ferrari and Stellantis, the company formed in 2021 by the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and France’s Groupe PSA. In 2009, Elkann established Exor, whose portfolio includes Ferrari, Stellantis, CNH, Philips, Christian Louboutin, Juventus Football Club and the Economist Group. Elkann also is the founder of the Italian Tech Week conference and is a board member of New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Born in New York in 1976, Elkann obtained a scientific baccalauréat from Lycée Victor Duruy in Paris and graduated from the Politecnico di Torino engineering school in Turin, Italy.

Songhurst is a technology investor who has invested in more than 500 startups globally. He has “extensive experience across” enterprise software as a service (SaaS), AI and deep tech, according to Meta’s bio for him. Songhurst previously served as GM and head of global corporate strategy at Microsoft, focused on partnerships and M&A. In that role, he led Microsoft’s acquisition Skype and its unsuccessful bid for Yahoo. Songhurst received a bachelor’s degree in politics, philosophy and economics from Oxford University.

Songhurst, in a statement provided by Meta, said, “As part of Meta’s advisory group, I’ve seen firsthand the opportunities to scale new products and grow AI and enterprise capabilities, and I’m honored to be asked to join the board to further this work.”

Meta’s current board members are: