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Parse cofounder James Yu has left Facebook. His departure comes nearly four years after Facebook acquired his mobile development platform company in 2013 and less than a month after it was shuttered. Yu plans to take a sabbatical.
In a Facebook post, Yu cites family as a reason for leaving the company. His has been working nonstop, moving from Stanford to Scribd, Dolby, Parse, and Facebook, always staying “laser-focused” on building out companies. Now he intends to spend time with his family, have coffee with friends, and ponder what’s next.
Yu is the second Parse cofounder to depart Facebook, following Ilya Sukhar, who left in 2015 and ultimately joined Matrix Partners as a venture capitalist after a stint at Y Combinator. One other Parse cofounder, Kevin Lacker, remains at Facebook.
After joining Facebook, Yu remained a part of the Parse team before the decision was made to pull the plug. He then became a product manager, working on Facebook’s 360 video and virtual reality initiatives, two significant efforts the company has undertaken in the past year and that likely will continue.
It’s unclear who will be replacing Yu as product manager. Yu was bullish about Facebook’s efforts in the 360 video and VR space, telling VentureBeat: “They have some insane opportunities ahead.”
We’ve reached out to Facebook for comment and will update if we hear back.
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