Three Mozilla board members step down over new CEO appointment

[Himanshu Arora]

According to the Wall Street Journal, three of six Mozilla board members have resigned over the appointment of Brendan Eich as CEO. Gary Kovacs, former Mozilla CEO and current head of AVG; John Lilly, former Mozilla CEO and now a partner at venture-capital firm Greylock Partners; and Ellen Siminoff, CEO of online education startup Shmoop, all stepped down last week.

Kovacs and co. resigned because they wanted an outsider with experience in the mobile industry who could help push Mozilla's Firefox OS mobile platform and work alongside co-founders Eich and Baker, the report says.

The three remaining people who are still on Mozilla's board include co-founder Mitchell Baker, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, and Katharina Borchert, chief executive of German news site Spiegel Online.

"The three board members ended their terms last week for a variety of reasons. Two had been planning to leave for some time, one since January and one explicitly at the end of the CEO search, regardless of the person selected", a Mozilla spokesperson told ArsTechnica.

Apart from the board departures, Eich is also under pressure from Mozilla employees who want him to step down over his support to California's Proposition 8 campaign that opposed same-sex marriage in the state. Last Friday, many Mozillans took to twitter to express their disapproval of the new CEO.

Following his appointment, Eich had issued a fresh set of commitments on his personal blog stating that he wants to put to rest all concerns through actions and results. On Saturday, Mozilla also said in a blog post that the company supports marriage equality for same-sex couples.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/56193-three-mozilla-board-members-step-down-over-new-ceo-appointment.html

 

[cmbjive]

Welp, so much for tolerance and diversity of opinion.

 

[davislane1]

Welp, so much for tolerance and diversity of opinion.

Tolerance only extends as far as the first disagreement. Or, in the case of Prop. 8, the first instance of "democracy" that doesn't favor a specific position.

This in mind, I've concluded that any self-proclaimed Tolerant™ person is, in reality, a disgruntled clown. By default this makes the current state of affairs at Mozilla a circus.

 

[Ranger12]

It's a shame companies have to be dragged into social issue such as this but such is the nature of world. Disagreeing with someone doesn't mean you hate them and agreeing with someone doesn't mean you love them.

That being said the title doesn't seem entirely accurate. Only one stepped down because of te new CEO. Two had made previous plans to leave regardless.

 

[Guest]

So, to make sure the world will continue to exists, we MUST make sure that a group of degenerates that are totally intolerant of other opinions have their dirty little secret "sanctified". Oh, they must be so proud! They have dissolved another piece of the fabric of the true family.

 

[wastedkill]

Is it me or does this guy look like on all his pictures hes derping a lot... seems airheaded and a useless CEO but they could atleast give the guy a chance and instead of just leaving or stepping down they could just voice their opinions and try to find a neutral zone.

 

[Vrmithrax]

Seems like most commenters just read the headline and ran in to comment about tolerance. The article is about 3 board members who left, but none of the reasons list Eich's stance on same-sex marriage as the reason. There's just a little re-hash of the employee furor at the end of the story, but the primary subject's departure of board members appears to have nothing to do with Eich's support of Prop 8.

 

[davislane1]

Seems like most commenters just read the headline and ran in to comment about tolerance. The article is about 3 board members who left, but none of the reasons list Eich's stance on same-sex marriage as the reason. There's just a little re-hash of the employee furor at the end of the story, but the primary subject's departure of board members appears to have nothing to do with Eich's support of Prop 8.

Nope. cmbjive did that. The rest of us just played along

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

Who cares what his stance is about same sex marriages, just as long as he can skipper the ship competently enough should be the thing that counts most.

 

[Marcuscassius]

Bad move for Mozilla. They live on public acceptance. This anti-rights guy is the wrong fit for that job. Their market is young, liberal, forward thinking people. Not scared old white guys. Unless they are actively trying to politicize the browser to capitalize on the Fox over 80 crowd.

I think I'll uninstall until they work this out. I don't like this guy.

 

[Marcuscassius]

Who cares what his stance is about same sex marriages, just as long as he can skipper the ship competently enough should be the thing that counts most.

If you owned stock, you'd know why.

 

[Marcuscassius]

Is it me or does this guy look like on all his pictures hes derping a lot... seems airheaded and a useless CEO but they could atleast give the guy a chance and instead of just leaving or stepping down they could just voice their opinions and try to find a neutral zone.

Nope. He said one thing, but he actively DID something else. Words are cheap and the fish rots from the head down. He's a bad guy for this company. He needs to go, like yesterday!

 

[BobNYC]

Welp, so much for tolerance and diversity of opinion.

There should always be intolerance for intolerance. We citizens of the United States of America are guaranteed EQUAL RIGHTS under our Constitution. This CEOs views are the same as those middle-eastern religious fundamentalists and he should move over there.

 

[BobNYC]

So, to make sure the world will continue to exists, we MUST make sure that a group of degenerates that are totally intolerant of other opinions have their dirty little secret "sanctified". Oh, they must be so proud! They have dissolved another piece of the fabric of the true family.

Read the Constitution. EQUAL RIGHTS for all Americans. No person of intolerance and denier of EQUAL RIGHTS should be elevated to the position of CEO of any American company.

 

[cliffordcooley]

There is also business decisions, and you people are looking at this as if the request is not a business decision.

 

[cmbjive]

There should always be intolerance for intolerance. We citizens of the United States of America are guaranteed EQUAL RIGHTS under our Constitution. This CEOs views are the same as those middle-eastern religious fundamentalists and he should move over there.

So then we should promote intolerance?

 

[cmbjive]

Seems like most commenters just read the headline and ran in to comment about tolerance. The article is about 3 board members who left, but none of the reasons list Eich's stance on same-sex marriage as the reason. There's just a little re-hash of the employee furor at the end of the story, but the primary subject's departure of board members appears to have nothing to do with Eich's support of Prop 8.

Except I read the article and there's this little passage,

Apart from the board departures, Eich is also under pressure from Mozilla employees who want him to step down over his support to California's Proposition 8 campaign that opposed same-sex marriage in the state. Last Friday, many Mozillans took to twitter to express their disapproval of the new CEO.

That's what I was referring to, not simply to a headline.

 

[havok585]

Oh, will ya all shut your whining? so what if this CEO said smth that goes against a group of individuals ? he can say whatever the hell he wants, free speech FTW. also gay marriage is not smth that's to be enforced on US/us just because some of you want it. Don't forget on which basis USA was born as a country (free for all, not free for all degenerates).

 

[cliffordcooley]

Don't forget on which basis USA was born as a country (free for all, not free for all degenerates).

Since you are going there, don't forget how religious they were in that time frame. And question how they would have treated the thought of same sex marriage.

 

[davislane1]

Welp, so much for tolerance and diversity of opinion.

There should always be intolerance for intolerance. We citizens of the United States of America are guaranteed EQUAL RIGHTS under our Constitution. This CEOs views are the same as those middle-eastern religious fundamentalists and he should move over there.

This has to be the most ignorant and poorly reasoned comment in this thread and the one that preceded it. Not only do you open with a self-contradiction, you've completely missed the rights issue as well!

First, the only rights issue present in this on-going Mozilla story is whether the CEO has the right to choose to support a cause he believes in without fear of being penalized for it. The proclivity for "forward-thinking" individuals to pick and choose who will be allowed or disallowed to exercise this "right" is the only reason either of these Mozilla treads have generated the traffic that they have. Second, supporting traditional marriage has noting to do with fundamentalist Islam. Suggesting they are the same is like suggesting that, because they both have wheels, a minivan and a Mack truck are the same things. It demonstrates a clear lack of education on both subjects.

Read the Constitution. EQUAL RIGHTS for all Americans. No person of intolerance and denier of EQUAL RIGHTS should be elevated to the position of CEO of any American company.

Once again, a post that contradicts itself. I challenge you, (or anyone else in this thread), to demonstrate a single constitutional right that's been violated or abused by Mr. Eich. Good luck with that.

 

[cliffordcooley]

I challenge you, (or anyone else in this thread), to demonstrate a single constitutional right that's been violated or abused by Mr. Eich. Good luck with that.

Agreed, his right as a citizen is not being questioned. This is a business decision not to put someone in charge that may be viewed as not having all their marbles by everyone. It is the right to run a specific business being questioned, nothing else.

 

[Sarcasm]

This is actually incorrectly reported by WSJ. Two of them resigned for other reasons non-relating to the CEO choice.

 

[cmbjive]

Agreed, his right as a citizen is not being questioned. This is a business decision not to put someone in charge that may be viewed as not having all their marbles by everyone. It is the right to run a specific business being questioned, nothing else.

What does Mr. Eich's position on gay marriage have to do with his expertise in coding and business management?

 

[Tgard]

Anyone else sick of all these stories. Seems like every other story AT LEAST had to do with someone's opinion of the 2-3%. Eich is entitled to his own opinion. Our Forefathers fought, bled and died so he could have an opinion. Mozilla + 1!!! Firefox is my browser of choice and I don't see that changing.

 

[cliffordcooley]

What does Mr. Eich's position on gay marriage have to do with his expertise in coding and business management?

I didn't say it did, you are only looking at half of the picture. As a business leader there is also ethics involved, especially if it may strike a media frenzy. And a BS media frenzy is exactly what people are trying to start over this guys personal life.

Our Forefathers fought, bled and died so he could have an opinion.

You are sick in the head, if you think our forefathers fought and died so that anyone could be gay. Keep trying to hold the Constitution out of context. The biblical world does it every day, because over the centuries the context has been totally forgotten.