This past Thursday, Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: FB) Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg announced that she will be stepping down after having been in this role for over ten years.
Sandberg first became Meta's (previously known as Facebook) Chief Operating Officer in 2008, and she has only led the technology company to become more renowned and influential on an international level.
With Sandberg departing, Chief Growth Officer Javier Olivan will take over Sandberg's role as Chief Operating Officer. Although Olivan will essentially be taking over the same role as Sandberg, he has the intention of keeping a much lower profile than Sandberg ever did, given that Sandberg played a significant part in promoting Facebook in a social sense.
"Sheryl has been a remarkable advocate for Meta and has worked with partners and helped to tell our story to external audiences for years," Olivan said in a blog post on Facebook. "With some exceptions, I don't anticipate my role will have the same public-facing aspect, given that we have other leaders at Meta who are already responsible for that work."
Lately, Meta has been largely under attack, since it has failed at putting a stop to false information on its platform, has overtaken other social media platforms like Instagram and WhatsApp, and had too much of an overall impact on society and politics. Presently, Meta is undergoing an antitrust lawsuit from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, as well as potential criticism from companies such as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regarding complaints from a whistleblower on the platform.
More recent reports have implied that the political discord on Facebook's platform as well as questionable actions from Sandberg have placed tension in the relationship between Sandberg and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, but it is uncertain if this is the real reason that Sandberg has decided to step down from her role.
As for Olivan, he will likely prove to be a valuable asset to this role on Meta's team. Born in Spain, he studied electrical and industrial engineering at the University of Navarra, and then received his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in North America.
Prior to his role on Meta's team, Olivan worked as a product manager at Siemens. Though Olivan may not have the same amount of publicity as Sandberg, he will nevertheless carry the same degree of, if not more, responsibility that comes along with being Meta's Chief Operating Officer.