She also oversaw the creation of Facebook’s political affairs team, one of the largest and most effective lobbying organizations in the world. She led the effort that transformed Facebook from a compelling product with hundreds of millions of users, but poor monetization, into one of the most profitable companies the world has ever seen. Sandberg had many opportunities to prevent or mitigate harm and she did nothing.įrom the perspective of shareholders, the hiring of Sheryl Sandberg was the best thing that ever happened to Facebook. I was right about the first part, but wrong about the rest. I also hoped that Sandberg’s maturity, political background, and business experience would bring out the best in Zuckerberg, while also providing guard rails. I suggested Sandberg to Zuckerberg because I thought her experience at Google was the best possible preparation for the #2 job at Facebook. For three years thereafter, I advised Zuckerberg on strategic issues, the most important of which was the hiring of key executives who shared the founder’s vision. My relationship with Mark Zuckerberg began in 2006, when I helped him stop an effort to sell the company to Yahoo that was supported by his board and management team.
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