在$Meta Platforms (FB.US) $Shirley Sandberg, who has been chief operating officer for 14 years, announced on Wednesday that she would resign as chief operating officer this autumn, but would continue to serve on the company's board of directors. In addition, Javier Javier Olivan, Meta's chief development officer, will take over as chief operating officer this fall.

It is understood that whether and when Sandberg will leave as the chief operating officer of Facebook Inc's parent company Meta has always been one of the most speculated questions among current and former employees of the company in the past few years. Still, when Sandberg officially announced her departure, it caused an uproar across the company and in Silicon Valley.

In Sandberg's own words, Sandberg's departure was prompted by two main factors: the fact that Meta's executive team was ready for her to leave, and that, as the leader of the Lean In movement, she wanted to focus more on philanthropy and feminism.

Who's Sandberg?

In early 2008, Sandberg joined Facebook Inc as the No. 2 person after Mark Zuckerberg, the company's chief executive and co-founder.

It is understood that Sandberg was born in Washington on August 28, 1969 and served as chief of staff of the Treasury Secretary in the Clinton administration. In 2001, Sandberg joined Alphabet Inc-CL C, then a start-up company, as vice president of Alphabet Inc-CL C's global online sales and operations department; and later Facebook Inc's chief operating officer, known by the media as "Facebook Inc's first lady", was also the first female member to join Facebook Inc's board of directors.

At the same time, Sandberg also used her success in Facebook Inc to improve her image, especially among working women. In 2013, she published step forward: women, work, and the desire to lead, focusing on the challenges women face in the workplace and what they can do to advance their careers.

On Sandberg's departure, he said: "I am not entirely sure what will happen in the future, but I know that the future will be more focused on my foundation and charity work, given how critical it is for women at the moment." it's more important to me than ever before. " In addition, it said: "quitting the job is not because of the regulatory pressure on the company, nor is it because of the current slowdown in the advertising business. For my future life plans, I plan to get married this summer and hope to spend more time with my children. "

Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook: "looking to the future, I don't intend to replace Shirley in our existing architecture." I'm not sure that's possible because she's a superstar who defines the role of COO in her own unique way. "

What did Sandberg leave for Meta?

Sandberg said that the time when she first joined the Meta was very chaotic. The company has some advertising business, but the effect is not good, in addition, the actual management and operation of the company is also scattered.

Later, under Sandberg's leadership, Meta and its other social product arrays were reshaped into powerful advertising machines that generated huge revenues and supported the company's successful IPO. Today, more than 3 billion users use Meta's products, and more than 200 million companies have created Facebook/Instagram stores.

So it can be said that without Sandberg, the fate of Meta would be more like many of the short-lived social networking / social product companies we've heard of. It can even be said that Sandberg single-handedly ensured the long-term survival of Alphabet Inc-CL C and Meta, two typical Silicon Valley "cool" companies.

Just as she said of Zuckerberg, a company needs people like Zuckerberg who stand in the present and look into the future-and, of course, people like herself who can control the situation.

What is the origin of the new COO Olivan?

It is understood that Javier Olivan, the chief development officer of Meta who succeeded Sandberg, managed WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger. Compared with Sandberg, one of Silicon Valley's most high-profile figures, the name Olivan may be relatively unfamiliar to the outside world.

Olivan's Instagram is private, with only 17 fans. Olivan has not posted a public post on his Facebook Inc home page since 2018 until Wednesday. After the personnel changes were announced, Olivan wrote on Facebook Inc: "I want to thank Shirley for everything she has done for Meta and for the billions of people around the world who use our products."

However, Olivan's quiet public image does not reflect his influence in the company. He is one of the few executives to report to Zuckerberg, who worked at the social media company for nearly 15 years and rose to the top close to Zuckerberg. Five months ago, he joined the company's management as chief executive officer and vice president of cross-Meta products and infrastructure.

If Sandberg led Facebook Inc's advertising business, which still accounts for 97 per cent of Meta's revenues, Olivan's global expansion is also laudable. From 2007 to 2011, his first job at the company was in charge of international growth. According to Meta's first-quarter results, more than 91% of monthly users now come from outside the United States and Canada.

It is reported that Olivan's career has been centered on Facebook Inc. In 2008, Olivan accompanied Zuckerberg to appear at Navarre University. He later joined Internet.org, a project launched by Facebook Inc and other companies in 2013 to connect people in less developed countries to Internet services.

By 2015, Internet.org had provided free Internet service to more than half a billion people, connecting 7 million people who had not been online before. Olivan, then vice president of growth of Facebook Inc, said in an email interview with Americas Quarterly that although Facebook Inc has become a fixed business in Latin America, there is still a lot of room for growth in the region.

Regarding the promotion, Zuckerberg wrote in his Facebook Inc post that Olivan is undertaking the integration of advertising and commercial products, while continuing to run businesses in infrastructure, integrity, analysis, marketing, enterprise development and growth.

Where will Meta go in the future?

In recent years, Meta has been criticized for its influence, controversy over stopping the spread of misinformation and harmful materials, and acquisitions of competitors such as Instagram and WhatsApp. Zuckerberg and other executives have been forced to testify before Congress several times over the past three years, and the company still faces antitrust lawsuits from the Federal Trade Commission.

However, Sandberg's departure comes at a delicate time for Meta, and its advertising business still accounts for 97 per cent of the company's revenue.As a result, Meta shares fell on the news, down 2.58 per cent as of Wednesday's close. While Meta is still underpinned by the social networking industry's largest advertising business, it is rapidly trying to reinvent itself as a "meta-universe" company through a recent name change and increased investment in virtual reality and related technologies.

Meta's advertising business is still facing its biggest challenge yet, with advertising revenue expected to grow by just 6 per cent this year, compared with an average annual growth rate of 44 per cent over the past decade.

And can this "change" bring a turnaround for the Meta advertising business or the overall development of the company? The market is waiting to see.