Meta Platforms Inc Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, whose shut partnership with Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg powered the expansion of the world’s largest social community, is leaving the corporate after 14 years, she mentioned in a Facebook submit on Wednesday. The announcement initially despatched the social media agency’s shares down 4%, however the inventory was almost flat in after hours commerce. “When I took this job in 2008, I hoped I would be in this role for five years. Fourteen years later, it is time for me to write the next chapter of my life,” she wrote.
Chief Growth Officer Javier Olivan will take over as chief working officer, Zuckerberg mentioned in a separate Facebook submit, though he added that he didn’t plan to interchange Sandberg’s function immediately inside the firm’s current construction.”I feel Meta has reached the purpose the place it is smart for our product and enterprise teams to be extra carefully built-in, moderately than having all of the enterprise and operations capabilities organized individually from our merchandise,” he mentioned. Olivan has labored at Meta for greater than 14 years and has led groups dealing with Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger.
Sandberg’s departure marks an finish of an period for Meta, which is shifting focus towards {hardware} merchandise and the “metaverse” after years of scandals over privateness abuses and the unfold of conspiratorial content material on its platforms, in addition to plateauing consumer progress on its flagship app Facebook. The second-in-command to founder Zuckerberg, who was 23 years outdated when he employed her, Sandberg is without doubt one of the most seen executives on the firm and the lead architect of its often-criticized ads-based enterprise mannequin.
Bringing administration expertise and data of the then-nascent digital advertisements business, she remodeled Facebook from a buzzy startup right into a income behemoth, whereas additionally positioning herself because the face of feminism in company America.At the time, Facebook was making $272 million in income, for a internet lack of $56 million, based on regulatory filings. By 2011, a 12 months earlier than the corporate’s preliminary public providing, its income had shot to $3.7 billion on $1 billion in earnings.
Meta ended 2021 with income of $118 billion and earnings of $39.4 billion.
Sandberg mentioned in her submit that she’s going to proceed to serve on Meta’s board after leaving the corporate within the fall.When requested about her subsequent steps, she informed Reuters she was specializing in philanthropy at a “critical moment for women.””We’ve employed so many nice leaders. I really feel actually good about that. The subsequent management crew is in place to take the corporate ahead,” she mentioned, mentioning Chief Business Officer Marne Levine and President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg by identify.
STAUNCH DEFENDER
Sandberg has been a staunch defender of Facebook over the course of its many controversies, constantly arguing that executives had been studying from their errors and honing the corporate’s instruments to raised police in opposition to dangerous content material.She informed Reuters final 12 months that she and Zuckerberg had a duty to repair methods that had failed, whereas rejecting stories that she was dropping energy on the firm.
“People love headlines about corporate drama, and I think it’s fair to say they particularly love headlines about sidelining women,” she mentioned within the January 2021 interview.Sandberg’s tenure coated each Facebook’s unique settlement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in 2011 for privateness violations and a subsequent blockbuster $5 billion settlement for violations of the sooner deal. She and Zuckerberg had been amongst people who then-Commissioner Rohit Chopra mentioned ought to have confronted extra investigation for his or her roles within the firm’s habits.
Under her management, the corporate was buffeted by revelations in 2018 that U.Ok. consultancy Cambridge Analytica had improperly acquired information on thousands and thousands of its U.S. customers to focus on election promoting.The identical 12 months, U.N. human rights investigators mentioned using Facebook had performed a key function in spreading hate speech that fueled violence in opposition to the Rohingya group in Myanmar.She courted further criticism when she informed Reuters early final 12 months she believed occasions across the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol had been largely organized on different platforms, though researchers had recognized comparable exercise on Facebook as effectively.
Whistleblower Frances Haugen late final 12 months accused the social media large of repeatedly prioritizing revenue over clamping down on hate speech and misinformation, and mentioned her attorneys had filed at the least eight complaints with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Prior to becoming a member of Facebook, Sandberg was vp of Global Online Sales and Operations at Google and chief of workers for the United States Treasury Department below former President Bill Clinton. A Harvard University graduate, Sandberg is the writer of a number of books, together with the 2013 feminist manifesto “Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead.”
Source: www.financialexpress.com”