Cambridge Analytica’s acting CEO steps down
Cambridge Analytica’s acting CEO is stepping down from the role, the company announced on Wednesday, the latest leadership shake-up at the British firm rocked by a data-breach scandal that has drawn the ire of regulators in the U.S. and abroad.
The company announced in a statement that Alexander Tayler, who took over after CEO Alexander Nix’s suspension last month, stepped down from the position and would “resume his former position as chief data officer.”
“We would like to thank Dr. Tayler for his service in what has been a challenging time for the company,” Cambridge Analytica’s board of directors said in a statement.
Reprising his past role, Tayler will “focus on the various technical investigations and inquiries,” they added.
The company did not immediately say who would replace Tayler as acting CEO. But according to a Wall Street Journal report, Julian Wheatland, chairman of Cambridge Analytica’s British affiliate, will succeed Tayler as the company’s next chief executive officer.
A person close to the company told the Journal that Nix has officially resigned from the role.
The shift comes as the London-based firm continues to face a firestorm of criticism over a Facebook data breach that exposed an estimated 87 million users’ data on the social media platform.
On March 20, the company moved to suspend Nix after an undercover report by Channel 4 News showed the CEO boasting about the firm’s use of secretive campaign tactics to influence elections. Nix’s remarks did not “represent the values or operations of the firm,” Cambridge Analytica said in a statement.
As the firm again announced a reshuffling among its leadership structure, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg continued his second day of testimony before Congress over his company’s role in the breach.
Zuckerberg told legislators Wednesday that he was among the millions of Facebook users whose data was sold to third parties, but he did not say whether his information was swept up by Cambridge Analytica.