Billionaire behind Gawker lawsuit staying on Facebook’s board

Venture capitalist and Republican donor Peter Thiel is staying on Facebook’s board of directors despite criticism over his move to secretly fund legal action aimed at crippling Gawker Media.

Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, at an annual conference held by tech new site Recode, said he would keep his spot but looked to distance the company from Thiel’s actions.

{mosads}“Peter did what he did on his own, not as a Facebook board member,” she said. “We didn’t know about it. And you should talk to him.”

Thiel revealed last week that he had spent roughly $10 million on a lawsuit filed by wrestler Terry Bollea, better known as Hulk Hogan, against the Gawker. Gawker published part of a sex tape featuring Hogan in 2012.

A jury said Gawker must pay Bollea more than $100 million. The case could severely damage Gawker, which is appealing the verdict.

Thiel says his lawsuit is motivated by what he views as the bullying tone of Gawker’s Silicon Valley coverage.

Sandberg said that Thiel, a longtime board member at the social network and its first outside investor, took action in pursuing the suit “with no Facebook resources,” making it an issue that company didn’t need to address.

“He did this. Really, it’s not a Facebook thing,” she said. “And we have very independent board members with very independent thoughts that they share publicly.”

Sandberg said Thiel’s actions were different from a situation involving Marc Andreesen, another board member and venture capitalist. Andreesen made comments about India that drew a rebuke from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

She said that in the case involving Andreesen, “it almost looked like he was speaking for Facebook, and so we thought the company needed to comment.”