Sir Nick is said to have decided to return for personal reasons, including being closer to his elderly parents.
Miriam Gonzalez Durantez, Sir Nick’s lawyer, was also reluctant to leave the capital when they went to California, telling the Evening Standard in 2019: “It’s 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 named Mark Zuckerberg’s number two, with the title of president of global affairs, when chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg resigned 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 around the world.
It reports directly to the CEO, Mr. Zuckerberg, and was awarded £10m in shares in Facebook’s parent company Meta, on top of his £2.7m salary, as part of his promotion.
Zuckerberg has embraced a shift to remote work at Meta since the start of the pandemic, but just this year a number of executives have decided to relocate from their Silicon Valley headquarters.
Sir Nick’s Californian mansion was worth around £7m when he and Ms Durantez bought it in 2019. Forbes magazine described its location in Atherton, a town in California’s Silicon Valley, as “the most expensive postcode ” of all the United States.
Ms Durantez posted on Instagram in 2019, amid a litany of complaints about the US: “A week and a half in California and I already had to fill out 63 registration forms, and no, not even all of them were in line! The next time Brexiteers complain about European bureaucracy, just point them to the US.”
Former Sheffield Hallam MP led Facebook’s response to the Ukraine invasion, banning Russian propaganda outlets RT and Sputnik from the social network’s website. Sir Nick also relaxed Facebook’s rules on violence to prevent moderators from deleting posts by Ukrainians calling for armed resistance against Russian invaders.
Russia’s response was to ban Facebook and Instagram from operating within its borders, costing Meta around $1.7 billion (£1.4 billion) in lost revenue.
Meta’s latest financial results saw its first-ever drop in revenue, from $29 billion to $28.8 billion in the three months ending in June.