Shares of Meta, Facebook’s Parent, Rise After Sheryl Sandberg Announces Exit

variety.com:

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorShares of Meta Platforms were up 1.8% in early trading Thursday, coming after longtime COO Sheryl Sandberg — one of the most powerful women execs in the tech industry — announced she was stepping down from the role.In after-hours trading Wednesday, Meta’s stock price had dropped as much as 3% on the news that Sandberg, a 14-year veteran of the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, was departing.

On Thursday morning, broader market indexes were down while the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.6% amid the rise in Meta shares.On May 28, Sandberg informed Meta of her decision to resign from her position as COO “after a transition period,” according to an SEC filing.

She will continue to serve on the company’s board of directors. Meta’s board expects to appoint Javier Olivan, most recently chief growth officer and VP of cross-Meta product and infrastructure, to succeed Sandberg after a transition period.

When Sandberg joined CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook in 2008, she helped convert the platform into an advertising powerhouse — and one of the biggest and most profitable companies in the tech industry.Sandberg also has been a source of controversy during her tenure at Facebook.