- Palmer Luckey informed MIT Expertise Overview he is nonetheless “sore” about being ousted from Fb in 2017.
- However the billionaire VR guru stated he would not blame Mark Zuckerberg or the trendy iteration of Meta.
- Luckey, who based Oculus VR, has since turned his efforts to Anduril, a protection tech firm.
Palmer Luckey remains to be offended about his ousting from Fb eight years in the past — however the billionaire digital actuality guru would not blame Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Luckey, 32, informed the MIT Technology Review this month that he is not offended with the social media firm’s prime govt over the occasions that resulted in Luckey leaving the company three years after he bought Oculus VR to Fb for $2 billion,
“I’ve much more anger for the individuals who lied in a method that ruined my total life and that noticed my very own firm ripped out from beneath me that I might spent my total grownup life constructing,” he informed the outlet.
“I’ve obtained loads of anger left, however it’s not at Meta, the company entity,” Luckey added. “It isn’t at Zuck.”
A consultant for Meta didn’t instantly reply to Enterprise Insider’s request for remark.
Luckey, who went on to create Anduril, a protection tech firm that has received a number of authorities contracts, left Meta in 2017 after his $10,000 political contribution to a pro-Trump group grew to become public. On the time, Meta — then Fb — denied that Luckey’s departure was associated to politics.
Luckey stays a supporter of former President Donald Trump and co-hosted fundraisers for him in each 2020 and 2024.
A lot of his remaining ire, Luckey informed the outlet, is reserved for much less well-known folks concerned within the state of affairs, similar to public relations brokers, reporters, and attorneys.
Luckey famous that he is still mad about the steps Facebook took to attempt to maintain him from sharing his model of occasions on the time, saying he wrote some statements however by no means printed them due to threats from the corporate.
“Anyway,” Luckey informed MIT. “I am nonetheless sore about it eight years later.”
In an August profile written by Tablet journal, Luckey described himself as a “crusader for vengeance” with regard to his ouster.
“Proper now, I achieve nothing by correcting the document of issues that [Facebook] did fallacious eight years in the past,” he informed the outlet. “If it is higher for me to bury it, I’ll.”
On the similar time, Luckey stated he would not wish to throw Zuckerberg beneath the bus as a result of he needs Meta to keep investing in VR.
The corporate has misplaced tens of billions of {dollars} on its Actuality Labs division, which is accountable for augmented actuality, although Zuckerberg has stated VR funding is a “long-term bet,” BI beforehand reported, citing earnings.
In the meantime, Zuck informed Pill that he had a “big quantity of respect” for Palmer and stated he hoped the 2 might work collectively once more sooner or later.
Luckey’s almost decade-old resentments continued to thaw in recent weeks.
At a Pepperdine College interview earlier this month, Luckey stated he had lately visited Meta’s headquarters for the primary time since he left the corporate to demo the brand new Orion glasses.
He additionally accepted an apology from Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth over a earlier social media argument the 2 had about his ouster.
“I’m infamously good at holding grudges, however Meta has modified loads over the previous 8 years,” Luckey wrote on X earlier this month. “The folks accountable for my ouster and inner/exterior smear marketing campaign aren’t even round anymore.”