Facebook-owner Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg has announced that she is leaving the company after 14 years.
Sandberg announced her departure in a Facebook post late on Wednesday: "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.
Sandberg's close partnership with Meta chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg powered the growth of the world's biggest social network, Reuters reported.
Meta chief growth officer Javier Olivan will take over as chief operating officer, Zuckerberg said in a separate Facebook post, although he added that he did not plan to replace Sandberg's role directly within the company's existing structure.
"I think Meta has reached the point where it makes sense for our product and business groups to be more closely integrated, rather than having all the business and operations functions organized separately from our products," Zuckerberg said.
Olivan has worked at Meta for more than 14 years and has led teams handling Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger.
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Sandberg's departure marks the end of an era for Meta, which is shifting focus toward hardware products and the “metaverse" after years of controversy over privacy abuses and the spread of conspiratorial content on its platforms, as well as plateauing user growth on its flagship app Facebook.
The second-in-command to founder Zuckerberg, who was 23 years old when he hired her, Sandberg is one of the most visible executives at the company and the lead architect of its often-criticized ads-based business model.
Bringing management experience and knowledge of the then-nascent digital ads industry, she transformed Facebook from a startup into a revenue behemoth, while also positioning herself as the face of feminism in corporate America.
Sandberg said in her post that she will continue to serve on Meta's board after leaving the company in the fall.
Prior to joining Facebook, Sandberg was vice president of Global Online Sales and Operations at Google and chief of staff for the United States Treasury Department under former President Bill Clinton.
A Harvard University graduate, Sandberg is the author of several books, including the 2013 feminist manifesto "Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead."
Contact the author at jon.hopkins@proactiveinvestors.com