BUS 449 Post 16

Brendan Eich

Dear Reader,

You probably have heard about Mozilla’s CEO Brendan Eich stepping down from his position on April 3. The reason behind is his support and $1000 donation to Proposition 8 initiative in California that opposes the same-sex marriage.

Eich was appointed as CEO in March but was forced to resign after being criticized and boycotted. The first to react was dating site OK Cupid that blocked access to its website for users who used Mozilla Firefox browser. Also, numerous Mozilla’s employees tweeted about the issue disapproving Eich’s views and demanding his resignation. (Here are some examples of angry tweets.)

The general message was that Mozilla failed to live up to its principles of inclusiveness. Executive chairwoman Mitchell Baker wrote: “We know why people are hurt and angry, and they are right: it’s because we haven’t stayed true to ourselves”.

However, Eich resignation has caused fierce debates about the rightfulness of the decision. Many doubt whether it is just to boycott the company over Eich’s personal beliefs. Also some say that CEO’s personal beliefs should not interfere with his work. There were numerous angry tweets such as: 

“Congrats @mozilla your intolerance ran off a guy who's work is ubiquitous & revolutionary. You must be proud to be such bullies. #ILikeEich”.

I personally do not know the right answer to this issue. I guess it is a good example for Prof. White’s Business Ethics class.