Dana White, U.F.C. Head, Joins Metas Board

Mark Zuckerberg in a Facebook post Monday said that Meta had added Dana White, the chief executive of Ultimate Fighting Championship, and two other executives to its board.Meta is adding Mr.White, a longtime friend of President-elect Donald J.

Trump, to the social media company’s leadership amid a series of moves to strengthen its ties to the incoming administration.Last week, the company shook up the top of Meta’s policy team, appointing a longtime executive known for his Republican ties to become head of global policy.

Meta has also donated $1 million to Mr.Trump’s inaugural fund.In recent years, Mr.

White and Mr.Zuckerberg, the Meta chief executive, have bonded over their passion for professional fighting, including mixed martial arts, which Mr.

Zuckerberg took up in 2022.“Dana is the President and CEO of UFC, and he has built it into one of the most valuable, fastest growing, and most popular sports enterprises in the world,” Mr.Zuckerberg said in his post.

“I’ve admired him as an entrepreneur and his ability to build such a beloved brand.”In 2023, Mr.White attempted to broker a cage match between the Mr.

Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, Tesla and SpaceX.Mr.

Musk, who has become a close ally of Mr.Trump, eventually backed out of the battle, citing an old injury.

He claimed Mr.Zuckerberg was at fault for not making himself available to fight later on.Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, created three new board seats for the appointments, bringing the total number of board members to 13.

Mr.Zuckerberg said the company also added John Elkann, the chief executive of Exor, a Europe-based holding company that controls Jeep and Ferrari, and Charlie Songhurst, a tech investor who previously worked at Microsoft and has recently advised Meta on artificial intelligence projects.“We have massive opportunities ahead in A.I., wearables, and the future of social media, and our board will help us achieve our vision,...