Mozilla co-founder and CEO Brendan Eich, who previously donated to a campaign to ban gay marriage in California, resigned from Mozilla on Thursday.
Eich had donated $1,000 for the successful Proposition 8 ballot measure that passed in the November 2008 state election.
Today, the tech and business worlds are reacting to the news and debating Eich’s decision to resign.
Erich Joachimsthaler, Co-Founder and CEO of Vivaldi Partners, connected with MMW to share his thoughts.
“There is a place for all sorts of CEOs but when the CEO is one that has apparently lived under a rock for the last years and that same CEO serves a company that is built on the foundation of a large consumer base and their trust, the issue is not just one of corporate governance, but one that affects the core of the brand,” Joachimsthaler says.
“We live in a world where consumers vote with their fingers and perhaps a touch,” he continues. “Hence, the immediate damage to a brand and business such as Mozilla can be enormous. And while there are examples of great comebacks, there are equally and more examples of brands that never regained their former strengths.”
“A CEOs job fiduciary duty is to lead the company for the future,” Joachimsthaler adds. “In this case, my daughter would call it an #epicfail.”
