Antonio García Martínez (author)

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Antonio García Martínez is an American New York Times best-selling author[1] and tech entrepreneur. He is a former product manager for Facebook, the CEO-founder of AdGrok, and a former quantitative analyst for Goldman Sachs.[2]

He has contributed articles to Wired,[3] Medium,[4] Vanity Fair,[5] Business Insider,[6] The Guardian,[7][8] Huffington Post,[9] and The Washington Post.[10]

Career[]

After studying physics in the University of California, Berkeley, García Martínez started working at Goldman Sachs in September 2005.[2][11] After leaving Goldman Sachs in March 2008, he started working at Adchemy as a Research Scientist in April 2008.[11] After leaving Adchemy in May 2010, he founded AdGrok, a Y Combinator-backed advertising platform. He sold AdGrok to Twitter in 2011 and started working at Facebook in April 2011 as a director of Facebook's Ad Exchange before leaving Facebook in April 2013.[2][11][12] He worked briefly at Apple in 2021, before the company severed ties with him as a result of internal backlash over his hiring.[13]

In 2016, García Martínez released a book entitled Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley published by HarperCollins, which is an autobiography that details his career experiences with launching AdGrok, selling it to Twitter, and working at Facebook from its pre-IPO stage.[14][15][16][17]

He is a frequent contributor to Wired.[18]

Apple employment controversy[]

On May 10, 2021, Business Insider reported[19] that García Martínez had begun working on the Advertising Platforms team at Apple. Shortly thereafter, on May 12, tech publications including 9to5Mac, Appleinsider and The Verge picked up the story.

9to5Mac's coverage in particular highlighted that some of the content of Chaos Monkeys did not appear to be aligned with Apple's public messaging around inclusion and diversity.[20] Subsequently, news about García Martínez's hire spread more widely within Apple itself, garnering much objection from employees,[21][22] who cited the views expressed in Chaos Monkeys as being a major cause for concern. Specifically, the employees' internal petition stated: "We are deeply concerned about the recent hiring of Antonio García Martínez. His misogynistic statements in his autobiography—such as 'Most women in the Bay Area are soft and weak, cosseted and naive despite their claims of worldliness, and generally full of shit' [ ]—directly oppose Apple's commitment to Inclusion & Diversity."[21]

By the afternoon of May 12, The Verge reported[21] that employees had begun an internal petition demanding an investigation into García Martínez's hiring, and included an open letter addressed to Apple's SVP of Internet Software & Services Eddy Cue, which stated that they were "deeply concerned" with García Martínez's hiring, adding that they were "profoundly distraught by what [his hiring] means for Apple's commitment to its inclusion goals, as well as its real and immediate impact on those working near Mr. García Martínez."[21]

By the evening of May 12, Apple had confirmed[13] to Axios that García Martínez was no longer employed at the company, stating that it has "always strived to create an inclusive, welcoming workplace." The company has thus far offered no explanation for his initial hiring, or what, if any, investigation of his derogatory remarks was conducted prior to his joining Apple. García Martínez has said in a statement that Apple executives were "well aware"[23] of his book, and that his references were questioned about his character.

Books[]

  • Martinez, Antonio Garcia. Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley. HarperCollins. ISBN 9781473550322.[24]

References[]

  1. ^ "Business Books - Best Sellers - August 14, 2016". The New York Times. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Ex-Goldman Sachs Employee Compares Working At Bank To Being A 'Fluffer' On A 'Porn Set'". Huffington Post. August 5, 2010. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  3. ^ "Antonio García Martínez | WIRED". www.wired.com. Retrieved November 18, 2018.
  4. ^ "Antonio García Martínez". Medium. Retrieved November 18, 2018.
  5. ^ Magazine, Vanity Fair. "Antonio García Martínez". Vanity Fair. Retrieved November 18, 2018.
  6. ^ "Antonio Garcia Martinez, Contributor". Business Insider. Retrieved November 18, 2018.
  7. ^ Garcia-Martinez, Antonio (May 2, 2017). "I'm an ex-Facebook exec: don't believe what they tell you about ads". the Guardian. Retrieved November 18, 2018.
  8. ^ Martínez, Antonio García (July 1, 2017). "By fining Google, Brussels bureaucrats show themselves to be absurd | Antonio García Martínez". the Guardian. Retrieved November 18, 2018.
  9. ^ "Antonio Garcia-Martinez | HuffPost". www.huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved November 18, 2018.
  10. ^ "Opinion | A villain, a prophet and two wildly successful start-ups". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 18, 2018.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Antonio Garcia-Martinez | LinkedIn".
  12. ^ Constine, Josh. "Facebook's Ad Exchange Director, Former AdGrok CEO Antonio Garcia-Martinez, Hits The Road". TechCrunch. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b Fried, Ina. "Apple severs ties with recently hired former Facebook employee after backlash". Axios. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
  14. ^ Streitfeld, David (July 5, 2016). "What It Is Actually Like to Be in the Engine Room of the Start-Up Economy". The New York Times. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  15. ^ Kuchler, Hannah. "Chaos Monkeys: Inside the Silicon Valley Money Machine', by Antonio García Martínez". Financial Times. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  16. ^ Biggs, John. "Inside the ape cage with Antonio Garcia Martinez, author of Chaos Monkeys". TechCrunch. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  17. ^ Huet, Ellen (June 30, 2016). "Book Review: Chaos in the Valley". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  18. ^ Nast, Condé. "Antonio García Martínez". Wired.
  19. ^ O'Reilly, Lara. "Apple just made a major hire on its ad-platforms team, and it's the latest sign of the company's growing advertising ambitions". Business Insider. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
  20. ^ Hall, Zac (May 12, 2021). "Apple's App Store ad hire comes from Facebook, and that's the least controversial thing about them". 9to5Mac. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
  21. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Schiffer, Zoe (May 12, 2021). "Apple employees circulate petition demanding investigation into "misogynistic" new hire". The Verge. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
  22. ^ Gurman, Mark (May 12, 2021). "Apple Says Ads Engineer Leaves Company After Comments Draw Fire". Bloomberg. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
  23. ^ Peterson, Mike (May 14, 2021). "Antonio Garcia Martinez says Apple fired him, company was 'well aware' of his writing". Appleinsider. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
  24. ^ Knee, Jonathan A. (June 28, 2016). "Review: 'Chaos Monkeys' Is a Guide to the Spirit of Silicon Valley". The New York Times. Retrieved October 23, 2017.

External links[]

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