MongoDB's board is scrambling again after CEO CJ Desai announced Monday he's leaving the database company — where he'd held the top job for less than a year — to become Meta's new Chief Enterprise Platform Officer, reporting directly to Mark Zuckerberg, according to CNBC.

Desai will lead a newly created "Meta Enterprise Platform" business unit built around a suite of AI tools, including an AI agent called "Muse," a business-focused agent and a coding assistant, aimed at selling Meta's AI infrastructure to corporate customers. MongoDB's board immediately named Dev Ittycheria — the company's CEO for 11 years before Desai succeeded him last November — as interim president and CEO while it searches for a permanent replacement.

Investors punish the exit

Wall Street didn't take the leadership shuffle well. MongoDB shares plunged as much as 25% on the news, according to Bloomberg, erasing billions in market value in a single trading session as investors digested the second CEO transition at the database company in less than a year.

A THIRD CEO IN UNDER TWELVE MONTHS IS NOT THE STABILITY WALL STREET WANTED TO SEE

The move is the latest sign of Meta aggressively recruiting outside executive talent as it races to build out commercial AI products beyond its core social apps, following a string of high-profile hires into its AI divisions over the past year. For MongoDB, the abrupt departure revives questions about succession planning at a company that just settled into a new leader less than a year ago, according to Tech Startups' reporting on the transition.

MongoDB has not announced a timeline for a permanent CEO search, and Meta has not disclosed compensation terms for Desai's new role. The stock remained volatile through Monday's session as analysts weighed in on what the leadership vacuum means for the company's near-term roadmap.