Clegg back in Britain with tail between his legs
Meta staff move to London despite former deputy PM’S warnings that Brexit would be dire for tech industry
AFTER four years in Silicon Valley, Sir Nick Clegg is to join senior Facebook executives moving to London – despite his prediction that an “economically insecure” Britain would haemorrhage tech businesses in the wake of Brexit.
The former Liberal Democrat leader and deputy prime minister, 55, who is president of global affairs at Facebook’s parent company Meta, is to divide his time between homes in London and California after his return to Britain.
Sir Nick, who left the UK to work for Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, after losing his seat as MP for Sheffield Hallam, has made no secret of his longing to leave California, saying last year that his “heart belongs massively 5,000 miles away”. However, the decision is likely to raise eyebrows given his history of warnings about the damage that Brexit would do to the UK – particularly in the industry in which he is now employed.
In a 2017 interview, he said: “Pretty much everyone I speak to in the tech sector privately, they feel this sucking sound. Things that could have started here starting in Berlin. Investments that could be made here being put on ice. New innovations that could have flourished here starting to flourish in Paris, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Lisbon.”
Despite Sir Nick’s previous concerns, Meta has been expanding in London, opening a 620,000 sq ft office in King’s Cross earlier this year for 4,000 staff.
News of his relocation comes a day after it emerged that Adam Mosseri, chief executive of Instagram, which is also owned by Meta, is moving to London as the app battles to prevent an exodus of users to rival Tiktok.
Alex Schultz, its chief marketing officer, will also move to the UK this year. Meta declined to comment.
Sir Nick is said to have chosen to move back for personal reasons, including being closer to his elderly parents. Miriam González Durántez, his wife, who works as a lawyer, had also been reluctant to move to the US, telling the Evening Standard in 2019: “It is never a good time to leave London.”
In a 2019 Instagram post, she complained about American red tape: “One week and a half in California and I already had to fill in 63 registration forms... Next time any Brexiteers complain about European bureaucracy, just point them to the US.”
Sir Nick joined Facebook in 2018 as vice-president of global affairs and was promoted to president of global affairs six months ago. In his new role, he is responsible for the firm’s dealings with all governments internationally and reports directly to Mr Zuckerberg.
As part of the promotion, he was awarded £10million of shares in Meta, on top of his reported salary of £2.7million.
Mr Zuckerberg has embraced a shift to remote working at Meta since the onset of the pandemic, but it is only this year that a string of executives have decided to move from its headquarters in Silicon Valley.
Sir Nick’s Californian mansion was worth around £7 million when he and his wife purchased it in 2019. Forbes magazine described its location, the town of Atherton, as “the most expensive zip code” in the US.
Sir Nick led Facebook’s response to the invasion of Ukraine, banning the Russian propaganda outlets RT and Sputnik from the site. Russia in turn banned Facebook and Instagram from operating within its borders, costing Meta an estimated $1.7 billion (£1.4 billion) in lost revenue. Meta’s latest financial results recorded its first ever drop in revenue, down from $29 billion to $28.8 billion (£23.7 billion) in the three months ending in June.
There is a certain irony in the return to the UK of Sir Nick Clegg, the former deputy prime minister and now global affairs chief at Meta, the social media conglomerate formerly known as Facebook. He is relocating to London for part of the year, joining a growing list of top executives from Silicon Valley companies – and Meta in particular – leaving California. Many are moving to other US states but also to the UK.
This somewhat flies in the face of the predictions made by Sir Nick and others that Brexit would strip London of its brightest and best as they headed overseas for new lives. The predicted exodus never materialised. Even firms that had contemplated moving some of their staff to European capitals have had second thoughts.
A recent study by the consultants EY found that firms based in the City of London have slashed the number of employees they were intending on relocating to the EU, indicating that London remains among the most attractive places to do business after Brexit. Staff movement in the financial and legal sectors has broadly stabilised over the past year and the capital is leading the recruitment drive among banks, fund managers and insurers.
A bigger impact on the City was the pandemic lockdowns with many firms still not operating with a full complement in the office on a daily basis. Working from home has hit ancillary businesses like restaurants and bars. In the legal world, Brexit appears to have had little impact on the UK’S position as a leader in mergers and acquisitions. As the eurozone goes into recession and there is more post-brexit financial deregulation, the City should flourish. It is a good time for Sir Nick’s return.