COO Sheryl Sandberg to step down from Meta after 14 years

(Image credit: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

published 1 June 2022

Sheryl Sandberg is stepping down from her role as chief operating officer at Meta after 14 years, the executive announced in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

Javier Olivan, Meta's chief growth officer, will replace Sandberg starting this fall, while Sandberg will continue to serve on the company's board of directors. She apparently notified Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg of her decision over the weekend.

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Sandberg is also known for her book Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, which focused on helping women advance their careers and overcome challeges at work. Her time at Facebook helped turn the company from a fledgling start-up to one of the most powerful in the tech industry, notes CNBC. The departure also represents "a major shake-up in which [Zuckerberg] will lose one of his closest lieutenants," adds The Financial Times.

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Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.

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