Former Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg used to be fairly good friends, according to Politico . Their relationship predated the election, and many political experts have wondered how much of it has endured between the pair.
Zuckerberg and Buttigieg were two years apart at Harvard, and though their paths did not cross at the university, their shared history built a foundation for their relationship. Buttigieg was one of the first 300 people to sign up to Facebook, and the URL Facebook.com/287 still redirects to a profile of the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor.
However, it was the linked social circles that brought the tech scion and politician together. The two first met — albeit briefly — at the wedding of Facebook co-founder and fellow Harvard alum Chris Hughes in 2012.
Later, it was one of Zuckerberg’s old dorm mates that properly introduced the pair. Zuckerberg has just started his tour of the United States — which many had thought at the time suggested his own political ambitions — and wanted to meet Buttigieg once he reached Indiana.
“We were talking,” explained Joe Green, who had lived with Zuckerberg at school but participated in more politically-minded circles than tech-focused ones.
“And he said, ‘Hey, do you know Pete Buttigieg?’ And I was like, yeah, of course, super well,’” claimed Green, who currently works in the co-living industry in Los Angeles.
Green then made the introductions.
“I told Peter, ‘Hey, I’m going to introduce you to Mark Zuckerberg,’ and he had to change his Facebook settings.”
Just weeks later, Zuckerberg and Buttigieg filmed a Facebook Live video together in the ex-mayor’s Jeep in South Bend.
The meeting seemed to have sparked a relationship, and a source close to the Facebook boss described how the two were “friends.” Zuckerberg and Buttigieg then reportedly stayed in touch over text, though allegedly stopped communication once the latter made his presidential ambitions clear.
However, they remained in contact in other ways, and Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, recommended two staffers to the Buttigieg campaign. The couple later said that it was not an endorsement, but that the two employees had expressed interest in joining the former mayor and Zuckerberg and Chan wanted to facilitate the move.
The closeness between the candidates had many politicos worried that the 38-year-old would receive some sort of advantage during the race. The fear seems to be moot now, as Buttigieg just announced that he was ending his campaign for president .
That said, his political career may not be over yet, as some believe that he might be joining Joe Biden’s campaign in some capacity. As a result, some experts have called on Buttigieg to explain his relationship with Zuckerberg and ask if their friendship would affect his views on potentially breaking up Facebook — a policy of both Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.