Facebook announced the appointment of a new CFO today, filling the spot vacated in March when it dismissed Gideon Yu.
David Ebersman, former executive vice president and CFO at biotech giant Genentech, joins Facebook where he will report to CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg.
“We received a lot of interest in the CFO position and had the opportunity to meet with many impressive candidates,” Zuckerberg said in a statement. “We quickly recognized that David was the right person for Facebook. He was Genentech’s CFO while revenue tripled, and his success in scaling the finance organization of a fast-growing company will be important to Facebook.”
Facebook is remaining tight-lipped about the appointment, which comes as the latest shift in Facebook’s business following indications that it may be gearing up for an IPO — a plan hinted by Facebook when it released Yu in March.
“Despite the poor economic climate, we are pleased that our financial performance is strong and we are well positioned for the next stage of our growth,” the company said in March. And in noting its search for Yu’s replacement, Facebook added that it “will be looking for someone with public company experience.”
Facebook today declined to comment further on Ebersman’s appointment.
In his new position, Ebersman will oversee the social networking giant’s finance, accounting, investor relations and real estate functions. He also becomes a part of the company’s executive management team, which directs all aspects of company strategy, planning and operations. Ebersman will formally begin work in September 2009.
At Genentech, Ebersman served as the company’s executive vice president and CFO from 2006 through April 2009, when Roche Group acquired Genentech. Prior to joining the company’s finance organization, he was senior vice president of product operations. He joined Genentech as a business development analyst almost 15 years ago.
Yu, who Ebersman will succeed, had previously been CFO at YouTube, and helped negotiate the company’s blockbuster $1.65 billion sale to Google (NASDAQ: GOOG).
