Behind the “breakup” of Sheryl Sandberg and Meta
On the morning of June 2 (Vietnam time), Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg – the once powerful “female general” behind the success of the social network Facebook, announced that she would leave this group.
As the second most powerful person on the planet’s largest social network, Sheryl Sandberg was once praised by the world for her image of a talented female director – a successful symbol of women in the digital era.
Still, the breakup after her 14-year stint with Facebook or now Meta was not a sudden and happy ending in any sense. Sheryl Sandberg left the corporation at the most sensitive, uncertain time – when Meta wanted to get out of her own shadow to reorient the business model to a place where there was no room for the COO.
Sandberg – who laid the foundation for Meta’s abundant profit stream – announced his departure with a lengthy Facebook post. In that post, she explained that she wanted to focus more on her own foundation and philanthropy. But that did not pass through the eyes of those in the know.
According to them, the relationship between the veteran COO and the “final boss” Mark Zuckerberg has been fractured for many years. The character who used to be the face of the “brand ambassador” for the company gradually retreated behind the scenes, was pushed aside, and every time it appeared, it was awkward.
A controversial legacy
First of all, it must be affirmed, there are few people who have made a greater contribution to Meta than Sheryl Sandberg before she left. The female general is the person behind one of the most “huge” money printing machines of all time. Her advertising expertise was the powerful push to transform Facebook from a simple dorm startup into a billion-dollar empire that controls massive amounts of wealth and data.
Sheryl Sandberg, as Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang of The New York Times explain in their 2021 book An Ugly Truth, was pivotal in transforming Facebook into the most powerful advertising medium known to man.
In 2008, when she left the position of Vice President of Google, she was able to develop the advertising business on the search engine to turn it into a business worth $16.6 billion. With that beginning, Sandberg resolved to enchant Facebook into an empire no less competitive.
Under Sandberg, Facebook has found a way to profitably monetize the vast amount of data that billions of users hand over it every day. The social network even knows an individual like the palm of his hand and turns that information into the number one product to provide solutions to advertisers.
By doing so, shareholders and social media operators have pocketed billions of dollars. However, as the Cambridge Analytica scandal shows, that profit comes at the expense of the reputations of Facebook itself and those primarily responsible – including Sheryl Sandberg.
Speaking of numbers, since Sandberg joined, Facebook’s revenue has exploded from $153 million in 2009 to $70 billion just 10 years later. As of last year, 97 percent of Meta’s earnings were still advertising.
Meta’s million USD revenue over the years.
With the harvesting of data resources, Facebook and many other tech giants have “pioneered” to create a big concern for users – now, every electronic step they take on the internet is marked. and carefully cared for by advertisers.
It is also impossible not to mention the great merit of the female general in shouldering the responsibilities that young CEO Zuckerberg lacks the skills to solve or feels too “boring” – such as policy and business operation. That’s not to mention stellar connections at many Fortune 500 companies or experience with the government.
However, all those contributions do not offset the growth and profit optimization strategy that Facebook has pursued for many years under the female general.
Critics say the social network has a systemic problem with fake news, hate speech, conspiracy theories or false propaganda during the Covid-19 epidemic. Although this is the responsibility of the entire board, many former employees who left Meta blamed Sandberg in an article that she had shown lack of consideration and viewed those key issues as simply a risk. about public relations.
According to Gizmodo, Facebook’s balance between maximizing growth and delivering healthy content has failed completely. As a business-minded person with pressure to profit, Sandberg certainly has a responsibility.
Ms. Sandberg is under criticism from many sides.
From the hero with the 2013 book Lean In, Sandberg has gradually become the object of criticism by the feminist movements themselves. Not long after she left office, feminist group UltraViolet released a scathing statement about the former COO:
“Sheryl Sandberg might imagine herself as a feminist, but her decisions at Meta have made social media platforms less safe for women, people of color and even threatened the system. US electoral system. Sandberg has had the right to act for 14 years, yet consistently refuses.”.
No place left
Sandberg has lost its influence and aura from the very top. After the sudden death of her husband in 2015, the position she held was never the same.
The number of employees reporting a decrease day by day, becoming a shadow of themselves and being pushed aside, feeling out of place in a changing organization – just a few of the serious problems she faces .
In an interview with The Verge, Sandberg said she believes she has “14 years in a job that I thought would last only 5 years“.
According to many sources, the relationship between the two executives is also not as good as before.
Meta is in trouble. The company consistently ranks among the least trusted brands in the tech space and is turned away by users and former employees alike. Economically, sales are threatened not only by stronger competitors like TikTok, but also by restrictions from Apple’s privacy policy.
Against that backdrop, plus CEO Zuckerberg’s desire to transform himself, the company is aiming to focus on the Metaverse and the process could cost billions of dollars over the years – a growth mindset nightmare for the female general. a time.
Anyway, this breakup can be considered a liberation. As for Zuckerberg, he will remove an employee who is too old, no longer suitable for the company’s policies or image. As for the former COO, it’s a relief to not have to continue to see his years of construction work betting his fortune on a technology whose future is still open.
Source: Gizmodo
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