Sheryl Sandberg, one of the key figures in transforming Facebook from a startup into a multi-billion dollar company, has announced her departure from Meta after 14 years as Chief Operating Officer. She was the right hand of CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and after her departure, she will remain on Meta’s board of directors.
– When I took this job in 2008, I hoped to be in this position for five years. Fourteen years later, it’s time for me to write the next chapter of my life. I’m not completely sure what the future will bring – I’ve learned that no one ever is. But I know it will involve more focus on my foundations and philanthropic work, which is more important to me than ever given how critical this time is for women – Sandberg said, where else but in a Facebook post announcing the news.
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In an interview with Bloomberg, Sandberg called her time at Meta 'the honor and privilege of a lifetime', but that she found the decision to leave difficult and that her role as COO was not at all simple. Javier Olivan, who has worked for years in the company’s development, will take her place as COO.
Stock Decline
Since joining Facebook in 2008, she has been a key figure in Facebook’s growth, turning Meta into the largest social network. She joined Facebook to oversee all business functions – advertising, partnerships, business development, and operations, allowing Zuckerberg to focus on product development.
Along the way, she also became an author, publishing the book 'Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead' in 2013.
Together with Zuckerberg, she advocated for Facebook’s fast-growing business culture and later problem-solving, which led to multiple public scandals over privacy lapses and content moderation. However, Sandberg has spent years trying to improve Facebook’s relationship with the public and regulators.
Meta generated $120 billion in revenue last year, while revenues this year in the first quarter amounted to $27 billion. Following the news of her departure, Meta’s shares fell 2.6 percent to $188.64 on the New York Stock Exchange, and they have fallen a total of 44 percent this year.
One of the most important people in Mark Zuckerberg’s inner circle is thus leaving the company at a time when Meta is shifting its focus to products in the metaverse. As Mandeep Singh, a senior analyst in the tech industry, noted for Bloomberg, her departure, along with the decline in advertising revenue and nearly $10 billion in annual operating losses, is likely to create even more uncertainty for the company’s financial and business segment.
