Bangladesh, March 15 -- San Francisco, Mar 15 (AP/UNB) - Facebook is losing its product chief Chris Cox, a top-ranking executive who spent more than a decade at the company, just a week after CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a major new direction for the social network.

The departure, announced Thursday , follows Zuckerberg's announcement that Facebook will shift its emphasis to private messaging over public sharing. The change reflects Facebook's changing audience and continued problems with serving as a conduit for misinformation and vitriol.

Cox, 36, worked closely with Zuckerberg through the company's ups and downs, having joined up about 20 months after Facebook was hatched in 2004 in Zuckerberg's Harvard dorm room.

Cox "is a great g...