Outgoing Meta Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg has reportedly sold a fortune in the company’s shares during her 14-year tenure at the social media giant known as Facebook.
Sandberg, 52, was a fixture at Facebook over the past 14 years and was instrumental in developing the advertising business that turned the social media site into a revenue juggernaut in that period. He announced his resignation from Meta on Wednesday.
CNBC, citing analytics firm VerityData’s calculations, reported that the company’s success translated into a massive windfall for Sandberg—who spent more than 75% of his time in Meta doing more than 75 percent through scheduled sales events over the past decade. The shares have since been sold.
According to the outlet, Sandberg has generated more than $1.7 billion through the sale of more than 22 million shares, with his most recent transaction in October 2019. Some estimates put the windfall income of the executive even higher.
,[Sandberg’s] Sales over the past decade have made them one of the largest insiders in any US company,” Ben Silverman, director of research at VerityData, told CNBC about the transaction.
Currently, Sandberg has an estimated personal net worth of $1.6 billion, according to Forbes. She is one of the richest female business leaders in the world.
A Sandberg spokesperson told CNBC that of the 48 million shares, options and restricted stock units since joining Meta, some 20 million were sold for tax purposes. Another 22 million were sold through a 10b5-1 pre-scheduled selling program.
The spokesman said Sandberg has gifted millions of additional shares to charitable efforts.
According to Forbes, Sandberg still has around 1.4 million Meta shares. That stock was worth about $290 million as of Thursday and held less than a 0.1% stake in the company.
Sandberg announced her surprise resignation from Meta earlier this week, citing a desire to focus on philanthropic initiatives and her upcoming marriage to marketing CEO Tom Bernthal.
Meanwhile, Meta has reportedly launched an internal investigation into Sandberg’s possible misallocation of corporate resources to help plan his wedding.
The Wall Street Journal reported that increasing internal scrutiny of Sandberg’s activities contributed to the feeling of burnout that led to his exit from the company.
