Former Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg to leave company's board

Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Sheryl Sandberg, who resigned more than 18 months ago as Meta's Chief Operating Officer, announced that she will take a further step back by also leaving the company's board, saying "this feels like the right time to step away."

"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 in a statement posted to Facebook Wednesday.

The post included several photographs of Sandberg smiling and interacting with the leadership team.

Sandberg emphasized that she is not completely cutting ties with the social media giant.

"Going forward, I will serve as an advisor to the company, and I will always be there to help the Meta teams," she said.

Sandberg said she chose to remain on Meta's board for an additional 18 months to "help ensure a successful transition" following her departure.

She thanked CEO Mark Zuckerberg for his steady leadership during a more than year-long transition, as well as Meta's new COO Javi Olivan, who stepped into Sandberg's previous role in August 2022, about two months after she resigned.

"I will always be grateful to Mark for believing in me and for his partnership and friendship," she wrote. "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."

Sandberg also gave credit to Justin Osofsky, Meta's head of online sales, operations and partnerships, and Nicola Mendelsohn, head of global ad relations for Facebook, who both had "proven beyond a doubt that the Meta business is strong and well-positioned for the future," she said.

Sandberg resigned from Facebook's leadership team in June 2022 after joining the company in 2008, and then serving as Zuckerberg's second-in-command for more than 14 years.

Two years into her tenure, Sandberg became a member of the Facebook board, saying Wednesday that the role was "the opportunity of a lifetime."

At the time of her resignation, Zuckerberg called Sandberg's departure "the end of an era."

She is largely credited with turning Facebook into one of the most profitable companies in the tech industry, generating billions in advertising revenue and improving the platform's relationship with the public and regulators.

Her departure comes as the company has shifted its focus to products that support the metaverse and other virtual reality assets.

Meta also encountered some financial turbulence over the past year in which the company conducted three rounds of layoffs in an effort to restructure its workforce, while putting tens of thousands of employees out of work.

Previously, Sandberg revealed she wanted to put more focus on her family following the unexpected death of her former spouse Dave Goldberg in 2015.

In August 2022, Sandberg remarried to former NBC News producer Tom Bernthal.

In her statement, Sandberg expressed deep gratitude for her experience while working for the company.

"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," she said. "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."