Sir Nick is said to have chosen to move back for personal reasons, including being closer to his elderly parents.
Miriam Gonzalez Durantez, Sir Nick’s lawyer wife, was also reluctant to leave the capital when they went to California, telling the Evening Standard in 2019: “It is never a good time to leave London.”
Sir Nick joined Facebook in 2018 as head of global affairs and rose through the ranks to be appointed Mark Zuckerberg’s number two – with the title of president of global affairs – when chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg stepped down earlier this year.
The former Liberal Democrat leader was promoted six months ago, with his new role giving him responsibility for the company’s dealings with all governments globally.
He reports directly to chief executive Mr Zuckerberg and was awarded £10m of shares in Facebook parent company Meta, on top of his reported salary of £2.7m, as part of his promotion.
Mr Zuckerberg has embraced a shift to remote working at Meta since the onset of the pandemic, but it is only this year that a string of executives have decided to move from its headquarters in Silicon Valley.
Sir Nick’s Californian mansion was worth around £7m when he and Ms Durantez purchased it in 2019. Forbes magazine described its location in Atherton, a town in California’s Silicon Valley, as “the most expensive zip code” in the entire United States.
Ms Durantez posted on Instagram in 2019, amid a litany of complaints about the US: “One week and a half in California and I already had to fill in 63 registration forms – and no, not even all of them were online! Next time any Brexiteers complain about European bureaucracy, just point them to the US.”
The former MP for Sheffield Hallam led Facebook’s response to the invasion of Ukraine, banning Russian propaganda outlets RT and Sputnik from the social networking website. Sir Nick also relaxed Facebook’s rules on violence to prevent moderators deleting posts by Ukrainians calling for armed resistance against the Russian invaders.
Russia’s response was to ban Facebook and Instagram from operating within its borders, costing Meta an estimated $1.7bn (£1.4bn) in lost revenue.
Meta’s latest financial results recorded its first ever drop in revenues, down from $29bn to $28.8bn in the three months ending in June.
