Facebook hires away Google online ad vice president

by Juan Carlos Peréz

March 4, 2008 —

Sheryl Sandberg, Google's
vice president of global online sales and operations, will jump to Facebook
later this month to become the social-networking company's chief operating officer
and help the company to grow globally.

Sandberg will report directly to CEO Mark Zuckerberg and oversee sales, marketing,
business development, human resources, public policy, privacy and communications,
Facebook announced Tuesday. Her first day at Facebook will be March 24.

Sandberg's main responsibilities at Google, where she has been since 2001,
were online sales of the company's advertising and publishing products, as well
as running the sales operations of Google's consumer products and Google Book
search, according to information on Google's Web site.

Previously, she worked as chief of staff for the U.S. Treasury Department,
as a management consultant with McKinsey & Co. and an economist with The
World Bank. She has a bachelor's degree in economics from Harvard University
and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

In a statement, Omid Kordestani, Google's senior vice president of global sales and business development, called Sandberg "a valued member of the Google team," wished her well and announced that she'll be replaced by David Fischer, an existing member of the global online sales unit.

IDG News Service