Facebook’s COO Sandberg resigns: advertising business has crossed $100 billion, Javier Olivan is the new COO
Facebook’s parent company Meta’s COO Sheryl Sandberg has resigned. Sherrill joined Facebook 14 years ago in 2008. Sandberg has a huge hand in turning Facebook from a startup to a digital advertising empire. Facebook is now a company generating about $100 billion in revenue annually from advertising. Sandberg was the second most talked about face of Facebook after CEO Mark Zuckerberg. During his career, his name was also associated with controversies. The company was accused of spreading misinformation and hate speech. This was blamed on some of Sandberg’s decisions.
Xavier Olivan is the new COO of the company
Following the resignation of Sheryl Sandberg, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg appointed Xavier Olivan as the company’s new COO. Olivan, 44, joined Facebook in 2007. There were less than 50 million people on the social media platform at the time and a very small proportion of users came from outside the US. Now, it has around 3.6 billion users in other apps like Facebook and Instagram. About 91% of daily users come from outside the US and Canada. According to reports, Olivan played a major role in the deal with WhatsApp.
Thought I would live for 5 years, but spent 14 years
Sandberg, 52, announced her resignation on Wednesday via a social media post. In this post, she talked about how she first met Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at a party. When he joined Facebook, there was some confusion about the job as Facebook was a start-up then. She also wrote in her Facebook post, ‘When I joined Facebook in 2008, I thought that I would stay here for 5 years, but spent 14 years here. Now it’s time to write a new chapter in life.
Sandberg to remain on META’s board
Meanwhile, Mark Zuckerberg told in one of his posts that Sandberg will remain on the board of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Sandberg plans to work for society and focus on children and family. “Sherrill built our advertising business, hired good people, and taught me how to run a company,” Zuckerberg said. According to a Bloomberg report, the social media giant generated revenue of around $120 billion last year.
Controversy
Sandberg was in charge of the Facebook policy division during the Cambridge Analytica controversy. Cambridge Analytica, a consultancy linked to former US President Donald Trump, stole the data of millions of Facebook users. On January 6, 2021, when Trump’s supporters created a ruckus on US Capitol Hill, Sandberg’s name was still associated with the controversy. At that time many questions were raised about the role of Facebook in instigating the violence. Evidence showed that Facebook had a greater role in the uproar than Sandberg had suggested.
Early Career
After graduating from Harvard Business School in 1995, Sandberg briefly worked for McKinsey & Company. During the Asian Financial Crisis, Sandberg was chief of staff for Larry Summers. Larry Summers was then Treasury Secretary under President Bill Clinton. Sandberg later joined Google, where he worked on online sales of Google advertising and publishing products.
