Jim Breyer, the Accel Partners venture capitalist who played a big role in Facebook’s launch, has decided to step down from the social network’s board of directors. In a filing with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, Breyer notified the company that he will not stand for reelection to the board at the shareholder meeting on June 11.
Breyer told AllThingsD in a statement that “it has been a genuine honor to serve as an investor and board member since April 2005 as Facebook has grown from an emerging social network for U.S. college students to a global service that connects over a billion people. After over eight years of board service, it’s time to step aside in light of my other responsibilities, including my recent election to the Harvard University Corporation Board. I will leave the board knowing that Facebook is a global Internet leader with exceptional leadership within the company and on the board.”
Breyer has been on the board since 2005 and was instrumental in getting the company enough capital to accelerate the growth of its social network at a critical time in the company’s history. Breyer was at the right place at the right time, and he netted more than $100 million personally from the investment in Facebook. Accel itself got a 337 timesreturnonitsoriginal investment– one of its best of all time.
At the time that Accel invested, Facebook had 20 employees and less than $1 million in revenue per quarter. Today, it has more than 4,500 employees and $1.5 billion-plus in revenue per quarter. Besides joining the Harvard board, Breyer also leads the IDG-Accel China relationship, and new investments such as Prismatic. Breyer also decided to to stand for re-election at Walmart.
“Jim made many, many important contributions during his long tenure on the board and we were well-served by his presence,” Facebook said in a statement. “We will continue to have a strong relationship with Jim and going forward, we’re thankful we can continue to rely upon the tremendous depth and expertise of our recently expanded board.”
Top image courtesy of Kinetic Imagery, Shutterstock
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