Sheryl Sandberg, Meta chief operating officer, is leaving the social media company, she said Wednesday.
Sandberg will continue to join Meta board of directors, but she will resign from her role in the fall.
Sandberg departure comes after Meta, formerly known as Facebook, was battling various scandals such as privacy and misinformation. The executive, a 14-year veteran of the company, has not been free from controversy and has faced criticism that Facebook executives were slow to respond to Russian interference in the 2016 US election.
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"Since those early days, the debate on social media has changed beyond recognition. It hasn't always been easy to say that," Sandberg said in a Facebook post announcing his departure. "But it has to be hard. The products we make have a huge impact, so we have a responsibility to make them in a way that protects privacy and keeps people safe."
Debra Aho Williamson, a principal analyst at Insider Intelligence, said Meta is also dealing with business challenges such as slowing user growth and ad revenue. In February, Facebook said its daily users dropped for the first time in the company history, plunging its stock by more than 26%.
Williamson says "now the company needed to find a new way to move forward, and this was probably the best time for Sandberg to leave."
Meta Metaverse in recent months has been focusing on creating virtual worlds where people can socialize, play and work. As part of this effort, it is investing more heavily in virtual reality and augmented reality. However, moderating offensive content like harassment and hate speech in the virtual world will be harder than in social media.
Meta chief development officer, Javier Olivan, will take over as COO, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post. He said, however, that the current structure of the company does not plan to replace Sandberg role as he has defined the role in his own way.
“But if it were possible, I think Meta has gotten to the point where it makes sense for our products and business groups to be more closely integrated, rather than having to organize all the business and operations functions separately from our products. It is," Zuckerberg said.
Sandberg joined Facebook in 2008, helping the social media giant grow its multi-billion dollar advertising business. She was hailed by some as a feminist icon after the 2013 publication of her best-selling book Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead.
Prior to joining Facebook, Sandberg was Google vice president for global online sales and operations. He also served as Chief of Staff to Larry Summers, the former US Secretary of the Treasury.
In 2017, she published her second book, Option B, about overcoming adversity after her husband, SurveyMonkey CEO Dave Goldberg, unexpectedly died of heart problems.
Sandberg said in a Facebook post that after 14 years at the social media company, it was time for him to write his next chapter.
"I'm not entirely sure what the future will bring — I've learned that there never is any," she said. "But I know it will involve focusing more on my foundation and philanthropic work, which is more important to me than ever because of how important this moment is for women."
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