Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg Being Investigated for Using Company Money for Upcoming Wedding
Edited by: TJVNews.com
Now that Sheryl Sandberg, the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook has announced her decision to step down from her post at the social media giant, it has been reported by the New York Post that Meta, Facebook’s parent company has launched an investigation as to whether she improperly used company employees and resources to work on her personal projects, including writing a book and promoting her foundation, according to a report.
After 14 years at Facebook, Sandberg 52, resigned in order to focus on women’s issues. Her departure from Facebook came on the heels of a report in the Wall Street Journal that indicated that the probe on Sandberg by Meta attorneys also included allegations of using company resources to help her plan her upcoming wedding to marketing executive Tom Bernthal.
The WSJ reported last Friday that the planned wedding is just the top of the iceberg in terms of a much broader inquiry into Sandberg’s questionable behavior that stretches back years.
In a June 15th article on the Bloomberg.com, Max Chafkin writes: “The focus on alleged wedding planning, if it indeed played a role in her (Sandberg’s) departure, should feel a bit strange to anyone who has paid attention to the company’s well-established policy of spending extreme sums of money to ensure the comfort and preserve the reputations of its senior executives. It smacks of either a sexist double standard—in which Zuckerberg promoted his own personal brand while his deputy was sanctioned for similar behavior—or an effort to deflect from the real scandals that have swirled around Facebook, Zuckerberg, and Sandberg for years.”
Moreover, lawyers for Meta are probing whether Sandberg had Facebook employees use company time to devote their energy and resources in support of her women’s empowerment initiative known as “Lean In” which is named after her 2013 best selling book. The lawyers are also looking in to whether Sandberg had subordinates as Facebook assist her in writing her second book, “Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy.”
The Post reported that Sandberg’s second book was written in 2017 and describes the 2015 death of her first husband, SurveyMonkey CEO Dave Goldberg and the grief she felt after his sudden passing.
Sources close to Sandberg told the Journal that the investigation played no role in her decision to step down, as was reported by the Post.
“Sheryl did not inappropriately use company resources in connection with the planning of her wedding,” a spokeswoman for Sandberg said last week.
A rep for Meta, Caroline Nolan, echoed that sentiment, telling The Post: “None of this has anything to do with her personal decision to leave.”
The Post also reported that in a lengthy Facebook post explaining her decision to leave in the fall, Sandberg noted her upcoming wedding to Bernthal.
“I am not entirely sure what the future will bring — I have learned no one ever is,” Sandberg said.
“But I know it will include focusing more on my foundation and philanthropic work, which is more important to me than ever given how critical this moment is for women. And as Tom and I get married this summer, parenting our expanded family of five children.”
