The lawsuit, originally seeking $8 billion in damages, was settled before the trial could move forward in a Delaware court. Details of the settlement amount remain undisclosed. Meta has declined to comment on the agreement.
Shareholders accused Zuckerberg and other top executives of poor oversight, especially around the Cambridge Analytica scandal, where personal data from millions of Facebook users was misused by a political consulting company.
The lawsuit, filed in 2018, demanded that the 11 defendants reimburse Meta for over $8 billion spent on fines and legal expenses related to privacy violations.
Shareholders Blame Executives for Privacy Failures
The case included concerns about executives' timing of stock sales and named high-profile figures as defendants. This included Jeffrey Zients, who served as a Meta director starting in May 2018 and was also a former White House chief of staff under President Joe Biden.
In court testimony, Zients admitted the $5 billion fine paid to the Federal Trade Commission was significant but said it wasn't paid to shield Zuckerberg from legal risks.
Other defendants were Peter Thiel, co-founder of Palantir Technologies, and Reed Hastings, co-founder of Netflix. Former Meta executive Sheryl Sandberg was also scheduled to testify before the settlement was reached. The agreement spares these executives from testifying under oath.
Settlement Ends Trial Before Full Accountability
Legal experts pointed out that a full trial could have revealed important details about Facebook's internal decisions. Some believe the public may have lost the chance to understand the roots of the privacy violations.
Meta, previously known as Facebook, has claimed it invested billions in privacy improvements since 2019.
Before the settlement, Delaware Judge Kathaleen McCormick was set to continue hearings into the next week. Judge McCormick had earlier drawn attention for rejecting Tesla CEO Elon Musk's $56 billion pay package, after which Tesla moved its incorporation from Delaware to Texas.
