Updated: 3-Meta hires MongoDB CEO Dev Ittycheria to advance enterprise-level AI development

Details added in paragraphs 5 to 10; analyst comments added in paragraph 4

Harshita Mary Varghese

Reuters, September 28 - Meta Platforms (META.O) has hired Chirantan “CJ” Desai, the CEO poached from MongoDB (MDB.O), to lead a new business aimed at bringing the social media giant’s AI tools to enterprise clients.

Shares of the database software provider plummeted 18% in early trading on Monday as he is set to depart less than (link) a year after becoming MongoDB CEO.

As a seasoned tech executive, Desai had succeeded Dev Ittycheria in that role. MongoDB has appointed Ittycheria as interim CEO while searching for a permanent successor.

“While the departure is disappointing, we believe MongoDB remains strategically well positioned, and view the stock’s reaction as somewhat overdone,” broker Piper Sandler said in a report.

On Monday, Meta said it will offer AI models, intelligent agents, and tools to enterprises through its newly launched Meta Enterprise Platform, which includes the newly introduced Muse, Meta Business Agent, and programming tools.

Earlier this month, the company launched Muse, a personal AI assistant designed to perform tasks such as shopping, booking travel, sending emails, and making payments on behalf of users.

In recent weeks, Muse quickly climbed the charts on the Apple App Store and Google Play (link), with analysts calling it the most significant app launch in the US market since ChatGPT’s rollout in November 2022—a launch that kicked off the current wave of AI hype.

Desai will serve as Chief Executive of the newly established Enterprise Platform, reporting directly to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and will focus on turning the company’s AI technology stack into products and services that enterprises can deploy within their own businesses.

Before joining MongoDB, Desai led product and engineering teams at Cloudflare (NET.N) and worked for nearly eight years at ServiceNow (NOW.N), where he served as president and chief operating officer.

MongoDB provides database software that enterprises use to build and run applications, equipped with data management, search, analytics, and AI tools.

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