Sheryl Sandberg says she’s leaving Meta’s board

Former Meta operating chief Sheryl Sandberg is leaving the company’s board of directors.

“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,” Sandberg wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

Sandberg, 54, joined Facebook in 2008 as Mark Zuckerberg’s top deputy after spending about seven years at Google. In 2012, she became a board member at the company. During her tenure, Facebook rose from a highflying startup to become one of the most valuable companies in the world, topping a $1 trillion market cap at its peak in 2021.

Sandberg announced her departure from Meta in mid-2022, following multiple controversies that dogged the company and sullied its reputation among users, lawmakers and investors. Most notably, Facebook was central to the spread of disinformation ahead of the 2016 election and during the early days of the Covid pandemic in 2020. The company has also been in the subject of antitrust investigations and was scrutinized in Sandberg’s waning days for its insufficient efforts to combat hate on its platform.

When Sandberg stepped down as Meta COO in June 2022, she was replaced by Javier Olivan, who had been serving as Meta’s chief growth officer.

Since leaving Meta, Sandberg has dedicated much of her time on her LeanIn.org nonprofit, which focuses on empowering women tin the workplace, and related projects.

“I wanted my new chapter to be able to really make a difference,” Sandberg told CNBC Make It in August. “We’ve been in development on this since I was at Meta, but being able to have the time to put into [this launch] and to really be … a bigger part of this has meant a lot to me.”

Shortly after Sandberg’s post, Zuckerberg responded with a short reply.

“Thank you Sheryl for the extraordinary contributions you have made to our company and community over the years,”…