Meta Directors, Including Mark Zuckerberg, Agree to $190 Mn Settlement in Cambridge Analytica Shareholder Suit

Mark Zuckerberg and several current and former Meta directors have agreed to pay $190 million to resolve a long-running shareholder derivative lawsuit alleging they failed to prevent repeated privacy violations tied to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, ET reported.

The settlement also requires changes to board policies on director conduct, insider trading and whistleblower protections.

The payment, which will reportedly be made from directors’ and officers’ liability insurance rather than out of executives’ pockets, ends the trial that began in July after plaintiffs had sought roughly $8 billion in damages. The proposed agreement must still be approved by Delaware Chancery Court Judge Kathaleen SJ McCormick.

The Accord

As per the report, the settlement handily shortens what had been scheduled as an eight-day trial. Lawyers for shareholders had accused the board of permitting policies and practices that exposed Meta to large regulatory fines and legal costs, including the record $5 billion Federal Trade Commission penalty tied to Facebook’s data practices, and alleged the board engineered deal terms to shield CEO Zuckerberg from personal liability. The defendants denied wrongdoing.

As part of the accord, Meta’s board agreed to adopt governance reforms intended to strengthen privacy oversight and employee protections for whistleblowers; plaintiffs’ lawyers also signalled they will seek fees of up to 30% of the settlement plus expenses, to be paid from the settlement proceeds.

Pension funds and institutional investors that led the suit said the deal was an important step for board accountability.

Tech Sector in Focus

The settlement is reportedly among the largest derivative recoveries in Delaware Chancery Court history, underscores growing judicial scrutiny of director oversight in the tech sector and comes amid heightened discussion about corporate governance and the Delaware forum’s role.

The court will review the settlement papers and consider whether to approve the deal and the requested fee awards.

Whether Judge McCormick approves the settlement and the size of fees awarded to plaintiffs’ counsel; whether the governance commitments are implemented in form and spirit; and whether the resolution affects Meta’s wider plans or fuels further debate over forum-shopping and corporate governance reform.