Fourteen years after joining Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg is leaning back and stepping down. Her departure as chief operating officer of Facebook’s parent company Meta and right-hand woman to founder Mark Zuckerberg comes at a low point for the company.
Known for adding cosy anecdotes to investor calls about the small businesses that use Meta’s digital advertising, Sandberg was instrumental in helping the company spin user attention into advertising revenue.
When she joined in 2008, Facebook was a 4-year-old start-up with annual revenue of $272mn, a net loss of $56mn and a few hundred employees. Last year, revenue was close to $118bn and net income $39bn. Headcount has jumped to over 77,800 people. The tally of users who log into products each month has ballooned to 2.9bn.