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Sheryl Sandberg:
'I get attacked in a way men wouldn't'
Photo: JIM WATSON / AFP
Sheryl Sandberg
(52), one of the most powerful executives in the world, resigned as Chief Operating Officer of Facebook parent company Meta on Wednesday.
But what drove the Silicon Valley icon to resign from this influential post after 14 years?
The "Wall Street Journal" ("WSJ") has now investigated this question.
As colleagues found out, Sandberg appeared to have burned out and become increasingly disconnected from the company's strategic decisions.
There were also internal investigations against the top manager.
Sandberg's withdrawal was thus the culmination of a year-long process.
Advertising business under pressure
Mark Zuckerberg
(38) hired Sandberg in 2008 primarily for the advertising business.
Under her aegis, the company grew into a veritable advertising giant with a market value of one trillion US dollars.
In recent years, however, Facebook has come under increasing pressure.
A lack of control, the handling of user data in the Cambridge Analytica affair, insufficient countermeasures against the spread of fake news and hate speech and possible election manipulation via the platform have called critics and regulators into action.
Zuckerberg had to testify before the US Congress several times.
In addition, the antitrust authorities in the USA and Europe are investigating the group.
Although Sandberg was largely able to stay out of these public disputes, he also did nothing to counteract the excesses.
In addition, Meta's advertising business has come under increasing pressure since Apple introduced a new privacy policy.
Since then, users must first agree before their data can be collected.
Meta is now realigning itself and wants to dominate the completely networked world with the Metaverse.
Sandberg was no longer part of this new vision, the "WSJ" now reports.
She did not take part in various management meetings in connection with the strategic realignment.
The new strategy no longer suits their strengths, Sandberg is said to have told representatives.
In an interview conducted after her resignation, the top manager admitted that the design of technology products was never her focus.
At the same time, Sandberg's area of responsibility was cut, as the newspaper further reports.
In 2014, around 43 percent of the employees reported to her, in 2021 it was only 31 percent.
Company resources used for the wedding?
There are also critical reports about her private life.
Apparently, Sandberg urged the British tabloid "Daily Mail" not to publish an article about her then-boyfriend
Bobby Kotick
, head of video game provider Activsion Blizzard.
The report was about an injunction issued against Kotick in 2014, reports the "WSJ".
In addition, there are said to have been internal investigations at Meta against Sandberg, which lasted until her departure on Wednesday.
It was about the use of company resources for her upcoming marriage to her fiancé
Tom Bernthal
, it is said.
A Meta spokeswoman told the newspaper that neither incident had anything to do with Sandberg's personal decision to leave the company.
The matter with Kotick has been clarified: Sandberg never made any such threat to the "Daily Mail" and the report was never published because it was untrue.
It was also difficult to reunite her family with that of her fiancé Bernthal, as confidants told the "WSJ".
A long-planned break – Meta offers its executives 30 days of paid vacation every five years – has been repeatedly postponed due to the Covid 19 illnesses of several family members.
"I'm sick"
According to the report, she was not present at this year's World Economic Forum in Davos, a highlight of her calendar for years, because of her daughter's bat mitzvah celebration.
She is said to have shown relief to her friends.
She feels burned out and complained about becoming a buffer for the company's problems, insiders tell the newspaper.
You will be held responsible for problems that are not in your area of responsibility.
Her gender also plays a role.
She was being attacked in a way that men would not be, Sandberg told her confidants.
She's fed up.
It was only last Saturday that she is said to have informed Zuckerberg about her resignation, which is said to have been her decision alone.
Sandberg now wants to focus on her philanthropic projects.
With a net worth of $1.6 billion, according to Forbes business magazine, she should have enough leeway.
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