Kevin Weil, one of the co-founders of the Diem digital currency and Facebook’s Novi digital wallet, announced on Thursday that he has left the social media company.
Weil’s departure from Facebook comes before the launch of either Diem or Novi.
The renowned product guru said he’s joining Planet, a San Francisco company with a fleet of satellites that take photos of the earth once every day, providing users with imagery that demonstrates how the earth changes.
CNBC in February reported that Facebook chief product officer Chris Cox had spent part of his time away from the company in 2020 serving as an advisor to Planet.
“For better and for worse, the Earth is changing at an accelerating rate—and Planet makes that change visible, accessible, and actionable for customers in over 100 countries,” Weil tweeted on Thursday. He added: “I’m joining Planet because the more I learned about it, the more I found myself unable to think about anything else. Planet is at the intersection of so many of my passions.”
Responding to Weil’s announcement on Twitter, David Marcus, the head of Facebook’s financial products division and the other co-founder of Diem and Novi, tweeted “Thank you for all the passion and talent you poured in this important mission of ours. We will make you proud by getting that work in the hands of many.”
Weil joined Facebook’s Instagram division in 2016 after working as a product executive at Twitter. At Instagram, Weil was a crucial part of the development of the company’s Stories product, which shows users full-screen photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours.
He joined Facebook executive David Marcus in 2018 to work on the company’s Libra blockchain currency and the Calibra digital wallet. The products have since been renamed Diem and Novi, respectively. Weil is the second co-founder of Diem and Novi to leave Facebook following the September 2020 departure of Morgan Beller.
Weil tweeted on Thursday that he stills believes in the mission of Diem and Novi.
“The digital wallet we’re building at Novi, in combination with other interoperable Diem wallets being built by companies big and small, can change billions of lives for the better,” he tweeted.
At Planet, Weil will serve as the company’s president of product and business. He’ll be responsible for the company’s go-to-market strategy and will bring together the company’s product, engineering, sales and marketing divisions.
“Kevin is a proven leader with a track record of leading software and data product organizations through hyper-growth, and delivering market-making customer solutions — a mindset and body of experience that aligns perfectly with Planet’s high-growth business objectives,” Planet said in a blog post.
