Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook's parent company Meta, has announced that she is leaving the business after 14 years.
Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook and its parent company Meta, has announced she will step down from her role, ending 14 years in the job that made her one of the most powerful figures in the tech world and saw the company weather a meteoric rise and multiple controversies.
Sandberg, 52, will remain on the board of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, according to a post on the social network Wednesday. Javier Olivan, who has led the company’s growth efforts for years, will take Sandberg’s place as COO when she formally leaves in the fall.
Chief growth officer Javier Olivan will be taking over from Sandberg, according to chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg in a separate Facebook post. He added that he has no plans 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,”
he said.
After 14 years in the company, Sandberg’s departure will certainly be felt in the company. However, considering how influential she is, it’s clear that this will probably not be the last that we hear of Sandberg.