Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced he will not be running for office in an official statement Monday.
The social media founder announced a nationwide listening tour in which he would talk with people in all 50 states by the end of the year. The announcement fueled rumors that Zuckerberg was interested in running for political office.
“Some of you have asked if this challenge means I’m running for public office,” the CEO said in his Facebook statement. “I’m not. I’m doing it to get a broader perspective to make sure we’re best serving our community of almost 2 billion people at Facebook and doing the best work to promote equal opportunity at the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative.”
This isn’t the first time he refuted the rumor he planned to run for office. When his 50-state tour was announced in January, he quickly responded to rumors with a firm no. “I’m focused on building our community at Facebook and working on the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative,” Zuckerberg said at the time.
A filing with the Securities And Exchange Commission revealed that the Facebook CEO has a clause in his contract that would enable him to retain full control of his empire should he ever decide to run for political office and step down from his role as the chief executive.
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