Facebook CTO (And Former Creator of Google Maps & FriendFeed) Bret Taylor Steps Down

Facebook’s CTO for the past three years is stepping down.  Bret Taylor has created a handful of successful products, and is leaving Facebook to start a new venture.  Taylor announced the departure on a public Facebook wall post.  In the post he states that he is “excited to be starting a company with my friend Kevin Gibbs.”  No details on what this company is.  This is the first major departure of a Facebook officer post-IPO.

Taylor was one of the co-creators of Google Maps and left Google to join Benchmark Capital.  At Benchmark, he teamed up with another former Googler, Jim Norris, to create FriendFeed.  Of course FriendFeed was snatched up by Facebook back in 2009 for $50 million when he became CTO.  At Facebook he led the creation of Open Graph, App Center and Facebook Camera.  In his departing message he stated:

I’ve learned more than I ever imagined in my time at Facebook. I’m also extremely grateful for my relationship with all of the amazing people I’ve worked with here.

I want to give a special thanks to Mark Zuckerberg. You’ve not only been my boss for the past three years, but my mentor and one of my closest friends.

View his wall post for more information.