Meta Platforms (META) announced the appointment of President-elect Donald Trump’s longtime friend and ally, Dana White, to the company’s board of directors. White is also the CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), a sport that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been gaining keen interest in lately. Zuckerberg and White also share a camaraderie since the former has been instrumental in helping UFC integrate AI into its rankings system.
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Meta also added John Elkann, CEO of European investment company Exor NV (EXXRF), to its board. Further, Charlie Songhurst, who has earlier served as the head of global corporate strategy at Microsoft (MSFT), is also assigned a board seat.
Zuckerberg stated that the expertise of the three incoming directors will add significant value to Meta’s ambitions in AI, wearables, and metaverse.
Why White’s Board Inclusion Matters to Meta
Zuckerberg had a rough patch with Trump during his earlier stint as the U.S. president. This time around, Zuckerberg is making every effort to be in Trump’s good books. White has been a huge supporter of Trump’s presidential campaign since 2016. Adding White to Meta’s board means having a Republican influence on the board. His presence could play an important role in strengthening Meta’s political stance.
While announcing the board changes, Zuckerberg especially admired White’s capabilities in turning UFC “into one of the most valuable, fastest growing, and most popular sports enterprises in the world.”
Interestingly, last week, Meta replaced the President of Global Affairs, Nick Clegg, with Joel Kaplan, who has earlier served as a Republican party staffer and is the company’s current Policy Vice President. In December, Meta even pledged $1 million toward Trump’s inaugural fund, while Zuckerberg had a personal meeting with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Meta is indeed prepping solidly to position itself favorably for the Republican administration before Trump assumes his duties as the President of the U.S. on January 20. Not just Meta, nearly all tech companies are cozying up to the Trump administration to win his favor for new policies for the sector.
Is META a Buy, Hold, or Sell?
Meta stock gained 4.2% on January 6, on receiving bullish comments and price target lifts from analysts at Wedbush and Jefferies. META shares have gained 76.4% over the past year.
Wall Street remains highly optimistic about Meta stock’s trajectory. On TipRanks, META stock has a Strong Buy consensus rating based on 38 Buys, three Holds, and one Sell rating. Also, the average Meta Platforms price target of $680.13 implies 7.9% upside potential from current levels.
