Sheryl Sandberg to step down as COO of Facebook-parent Meta

(CNN) — Sheryl Sandberg is stepping down as chief operating officer of Facebook-parent Meta, the company confirmed on Wednesday.

In a post on Facebook, Sandberg did not disclose the reason for her departure from the company, which will take place in the fall. Sandberg said she planned to focus on her philanthropic work going forward. She has worked for the company for 14 years.

“The debate around social media has changed beyond recognition since those early days. To say it hasn’t always been easy is an understatement,” Sandberg wrote. “But it should be hard. The products we make have a huge impact, so we have the responsibility to build them in a way that protects privacy and keeps people safe.”

In his own post, Facebook cofounder Mark Zuckerberg thanked Sandberg and added he does not intend to replace her, saying it no longer makes sense to have Meta’s products and business teams separated organizationally.

“I think Meta has reached the point where it makes sense for our product and business groups to be more closely integrated, rather than having all the business and operations functions organized separately from our products,” he said.

Zuckerberg added: “When Sheryl joined me in 2008, I was only 23 years old and I barely knew anything about running a company. We’d built a great product — the Facebook website — but we didn’t yet have a profitable business and we were struggling to transition from a small startup to a real organization. Sheryl architected our ads business, hired great people, forged our management culture, and taught me how to run a company. She created opportunities for millions of people around the world, and she deserves the credit for so much of what Meta is today.”