Sheryl Sandberg leaving Facebook after 14 years! This is what she had to say

Sheryl Sandberg was Facebook’s top executive responsible for building the it as the vast advertising empire.

Sandberg was around since the early days of Facebook, right from 2008 (AP)

Sheryl Sandberg has announced her departure from Meta, erstwhile known as Facebook, after a long tenure of 14 years. Sandberg was around since the early days of Facebook and helped Mark Zuckerberg build the small social media network startup into an advertising behemoth it is today, all the while it battled the various scandals. The ex-COO of Meta will still reserve a seat on the company's board , and her post will betake up by Javier Olivan.

“Javi will become our next Chief Operating Officer since he will now lead our integrated ads and business products in addition to continuing to lead our infrastructure, integrity, analytics, marketing, corporate development and growth teams. But this role will be different from what Sheryl has done," said Zuckerberg.

"It will be a more traditional COO role where Javi will be focused internally and operationally, building on his strong track record of making our execution more efficient and rigorous. As part of this, Molly Cutler, our VP Strategic Response, will join Javi's team and report to Naomi Gleit,” he added in his post on Facebook.

Sheryl Sandberg leaves Meta

“I'm going to miss running this company with Sheryl. But I'm glad that she'll continue to serve on our board of directors so we can benefit from her wisdom and experience even after she transitions out of her day-to-day management role in the coming months,” added Zuckerberg in his post.

Sandberg, now 52, says she will will focus on philanthropic work as well as her foundation. “But I know it will include focusing more on my foundation and philanthropic work, which is more important to me than ever given how critical this moment is for women,” she said.

“Over the next few months, Mark and I will transition my direct reports and I will leave the company this fall. I still believe as strongly as ever in our mission, and I am honoured that I will continue to serve on Meta's board of directors,” she further added.

Meta currently comprises of Facebook as its key product, along with other social media platform such as Instagram, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp. The company is actively pushing the concept of Metaverse and is even jumping into the hardware segment with a rumoured smartwatch designed for Facebook.