Mozilla Corporation's Mitchell Baker Stepping Down
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Mozilla ☛ A New Chapter for Mozilla: Focused Execution and an Expanded Role in Charting the Internet’s Future
Enter Laura Chambers, a dynamic board member who will step into the CEO role for the remainder of this year. Laura brings a wealth of experience, having been an active and impactful member of the Mozilla board for three years. With an impressive background leading product organization at Airbnb, PayPal, eBay, and most recently as CEO of Willow Innovations, Laura is well-equipped to guide Mozilla through this transitional period.
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LWN ☛ A new CEO for Mozilla
Mitchell Baker has announced that she is stepping down from the role of Mozilla CEO, effective immediately. Laura Chambers will be the new CEO ""for the remainder of the year"".
An update
Also here:
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Mitchell Baker logs off for good as CEO of Firefox maker Mozilla
Mitchell Baker announced on Thursday she's stepping down as CEO of Firefox maker Mozilla Corporation to resume her role as executive chair of the not-for-profit software house.
"During my 25 years at Mozilla, I’ve worn many hats, and this move is driven by a desire to streamline our focus and leadership for the challenges ahead," wrote Baker in a valedictory post. "I’ve been leading the Mozilla business through a transformative period, while also overseeing Mozilla's broader mission. It's become evident that both endeavors need dedicated full-time leadership."
Mozilla's new CEO is Laura Chambers – a tech executive who has served on the of board of directors since 2021.
More later:
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The Register UK ☛ Mozilla CEO quits, org pivots, but what about Firefox?
Today, only a relative handful of Firefox users are left. According to the US federal government's Digital Analytics Program (DAP), which gives us the running count of the last 90 days of US government website visits, only 2.2 percent of visitors use Firefox. Caged fox
2024's top web browser is – surprise! surprise! – Chrome with 48.2 percent. It's followed by Apple Safari, thanks to America's love affair with iPhones, with 35.6 percent. Then comes, believe it or not, Edge with 8.5 percent. Firefox is in fourth place and continuing to fall.
This isn't new. In 2022, Firefox dropped to 2.6 percent from 2021's 2.7 percent. In 2015, when I first started using DAP's numbers, Firefox had an 11 percent market share. By 2016, Firefox had declined to 8.2 percent.
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Fortune ☛ Exclusive: Mozilla names new CEO as it pivots to data privacy
Chambers says she plans to focus on building out new products that address growing privacy concerns while actively looking for a full-time CEO. Prior to being recruited to the Mozilla board three years ago, Chambers says she was feeling “pretty disillusioned” about society because of the influence of money in politics and the growing power of the tech giants. “I was confused about what to do, and this felt like a genuine way to make an impact.”
Chambers says she won’t be seeking a permanent CEO role, because she plans to move back to Australia later this year for family reasons. “I think this is an example of Mozilla doing the right role-modeling in how to manage a succession,” says Chambers.
FOSS Force:
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Is Mozilla’s Mitchell Baker Getting Out While the Getting’s Good?
Mitchell Baker is stepping down as CEO at Mozilla, but it’s a move that appears to have very little meaning, if any at all. From my viewpoint (which is admittedly influenced by The Who in a “meet-the-new-boss” sort of way), this looks like a classic example of “the queen is dead, long live the queen.”
Baker made the announcement on Thursday, in an article she penned and published on the Mozilla website.