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Sheryl Sandberg stepped down from her position as Chief Operating Officer of Facebook and its parent company Meta. Sandberg is the right-hand man of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and has held the position of number two at the company for 14 years.
Sandberg first joined Facebook in 2008 and played a role in bringing Facebook/Meta to be a giant in the world of technology and advertising, even reaching a market valuation of USD 1 trillion in 2021.
The 52-year-old woman will leave her position next fall after completing the transition process with Zuckerberg. Even so, he will remain a member of Meta's board of directors.
Zuckerberg called Sandberg's departure the end of an era and said he would not completely replace Sandberg's role in the company's structure. The position of COO Meta will be filled by Javier Olivan who currently serves as Chief Growth Officer.
"Going forward, I have no plans to replace Sheryl's role in our existing structure," Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post.
"I'm not sure it can be done because he is a superstar who defines the role of COO in his own unique way."
Sandberg joined Facebook in 2008 to help Zuckerberg, then 23, launch an IPO and build an advertising business. Prior to joining Facebook, Sandberg worked in the administration of former US President Bill Clinton, and then moved to Google in 2001 to grow his advertising business.
But lately the Meta ad business is in a bad shape after being battered by Apple and regulators who make it difficult for them to target ads to users. As a result, Meta's revenue growth and share value plummeted.
In an interview with CNBC, Sandberg said after leaving Meta he would focus on his charity work. He emphasized that this decision was not taken because the Meta ad business is being dragged on or the spotlight from the regulator is getting tighter.
Sandberg disclosed his intention to step down to Zuckerberg at the weekend. He was recently accused of using his position to bury negative news about his ex-girlfriend and Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick. But a source familiar with Meta internals said Sandberg's decision to leave the company was unrelated to the scandal.