Brendan Eich—Brendan Eich resigned as Mozilla CEO after 11 days amid backlash over Proposition 8 donation
Appointed Mozilla CEO on March 24, 2014, Eich faced immediate backlash from employees and the public over his 2008 Proposition 8 donation. Half of Mozilla's board stepped down, OkCupid urged users to boycott Firefox, and CREDO Mobile collected 50,000+ signatures demanding his resignation. Eich expressed 'sorrow for causing pain' but resigned April 3, 2014, stating he 'cannot be an effective leader' under the circumstances. Mozilla confirmed he was not fired.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corporate Governance | +toward | secondary | +0.50 |
| LGBTQ+ Rights | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.166 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.59)× agency (reactive ×0.75)
Evidence (1 signal)
Eich resigned as Mozilla CEO after 11 days following public backlash
Eich voluntarily resigned April 3, 2014, posting 'under the present circumstances, I cannot be an effective leader.' Mozilla confirmed he was not fired or asked to resign by the board.