Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg Steps Down, Chief Growth Officer Javier Olivan to Take on Role

Javier Olivan, Meta’s chief growth officer, will become the company’s chief operating officer as current COO Sheryl Sandberg steps down, CNBC wrote Wednesday (June 1).

Olivan has worked at Meta for 14 years, according to his LinkedIn page. He started as head of international growth in 2007 and then worked as vice president of growth and vice president of central products before becoming Meta’s chief growth officer in early 2022.

Before that, he also worked with Siemens and Fon Wireless. In addition, Olivan is a board member with Endeavor and was a former board member with MercadoLibre.

This change comes as Meta has been repeatedly criticized for a myriad of things such as its big influence, the way misinformation has spread and the way it buys out rival companies. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company would also be planning an internal reorganization, which would make its product and business groups more “closely integrated.”

Sandberg operated closely with Zuckerberg, having joined the company in 2008, and her impact on the company helped make it into a titan in the tech industry, according to the report.

She has leveraged her role with Meta to springboard into further successes, including releasing her book, “Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead,” which focused on the challenges women face in the workplace and overcoming them.

CNBC noted that her husband, Dave Goldberg, passed away in 2015 after suffering cardiac arrythmia and collapsing on a treadmill. Sandberg has spoken about that in the past, releasing a book called “Option B” about the topic.

Sandberg’s departure also comes as Meta has been venturing more into things like short-form video, artificial intelligence and the metaverse.

See also: Meta to Launch Horizon Metaverse in 2022

Zuckerberg said on a Q1 2022 earnings call that there would be virtual reality headgear coming out as the company tested more metaverse products. The transition to short-form video might not be profitable right now, he said, but the company was optimistic about monetizing it in the longer term.