Sheryl Sandberg is stepping down from the Meta Board after her term ends in May as she made the announcement in a Facebook post on Wednesday.
“With a heart filled with gratitude and a mind filled with memories, I let the Meta board know that I will not stand for reelection this May,” she wrote, adding that she will continue to serve as an advisor to the company. “The Meta business is strong and well-positioned for the future, so this feels like the right time to step away.”
Sandberg’s exit comes after she served as a board member of Meta, formerly Facebook, for more than 12 years.
“I will always be grateful to Mark [Zuckerberg] for believing in me and for his partnership and friendship; he is that truly once-in-a-generation visionary leader and he is equally amazing as a friend who stays by your side through the good times and the bad.”
In a comment on her post, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg praised the 54-year-old for her contributions to the company over the years. “Your dedication and guidance have been instrumental in driving our success and I am grateful for your unwavering commitment to me and Meta over the years,” he replied.
Sandberg also thanked her colleagues: “I will always be grateful to my colleagues and teammates at Meta for all the years of working side by side and all they taught me.” “And I am particularly grateful to my fellow Meta board members for their lasting friendships, the guidance they provided me for so many years, and their stewardship of products that mean so much to people all over the world.”
Sandberg’s Legacy at Meta
Sandberg joined Facebook in 2008 and helped the company grow into a digital advertising stalwart. under her leadership, the company grew into over $100bn-a-year business.
She served as the company’s chief operating officer for over 14 years before finally stepping down in 2022. She has since been at the forefront of many of the company’s scandals and controversies including the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal, the Russian elections fiasco, fake news and many others. She has also staunchly defended the company’s controversial ads-based business model.
Sandberg’s Background
Before joining Facebook, Sandberg held major roles at the World Bank, Google and the Treasury Department under President Bill Clinton. A Harvard University graduate, she was no 17 on the Forbes list of America’s richest self-made women with a net worth of $1.9 billion. The mother of five also runs a philanthropic organization, Lean In, which focuses on empowering women and even wrote a book of the same name in 2013. She now plans to devote more time to her philanthropic work.
