In 2012, she was named in theTime 100, an annual list of the most influential people in the world.[7] OnForbes Magazine's 2021 billionaires list, Sandberg is reported to have a net worth ofUS$1.7 billion, owing to her stock holdings in Facebook and in other companies.[8] In 2022, she announced she would be stepping down from Meta in the fall but would remain on its board.[9] In January 2024, she announced that she would not stand for re-election to the board in May 2024.[10]
As of July 2025, Sandberg's net worth is estimated to be $2.4 billion according toForbes.[8]
Sandberg was born in 1969 inWashington, D.C. into aJewish family.[11][12] She is the eldest of three children, born to Adele (née Einhorn) and Joel Sandberg.[2][13] Her father is anophthalmologist, while her mother, a college professor of French, has roots tracing back toBelarus, as her grandparents were immigrants from there.[11][14]
Her family moved toNorth Miami Beach, Florida, when she was two years old.[11] She attendedNorth Miami Beach High School, from which she graduated in 1987 ranked ninth in her class.[11][15] She was sophomore class president, became a member of theNational Honor Society, and was on the senior class executive board.[15] Sandberg taught aerobics in the 1980s while in high school.[16]
In 1987, Sandberg enrolled atHarvard College. She graduated in 1991summa cum laude andPhi Beta Kappa[17] with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and was awarded the John H. Williams Prize for the top graduating student in economics.[18] While at Harvard, she co-founded an organization called Women in Economics and Government.[15] She also met ProfessorLawrence Summers, who became her mentor and thesis adviser.[19] Summers recruited her to be his research assistant at theWorld Bank,[11] where she worked for approximately one year on health projects inIndia dealing withleprosy,AIDS, andblindness.[20]
In 1993, she enrolled atHarvard Business School and in 1995 she earned her MBA degree, graduating with the highest distinction.[18] In her first year of business school, she earned a fellowship.[21]
Sandberg joined Google in 2001, where she was responsible for online sales of Google's advertising and publishing products as well as for sales operations of Google's consumer products and Google Book Search.[22][23] During her time at Google, she grew the ad and sales team from four people to 4,000.[24]
In late 2007,Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and chief executive of Facebook, met Sandberg at a Christmas party held byDan Rosensweig.[11] Zuckerberg had no formal search for a chief operating officer, but thought of Sandberg as "a perfect fit" for this role.[11] In March 2008, Facebook announced the hiring of Sandberg for the role of COO and her leaving Google.[25]
After joining the company, Sandberg quickly began trying to figure out how to make Facebook profitable. Before she joined, the company was "primarily interested in building a really cool site; profits, they assumed, would follow."[11] By late spring,[when?] Facebook's leadership had agreed to rely on advertising, "with the ads discreetly presented"; by 2010, Facebook became profitable.[11] According to Facebook, (as of 2012) she oversaw the firm's business operations includingsales,marketing,business development,human resources,public policy andcommunications.[26]
In 2012, she became the eighth member of Facebook's board of directors.[27]
In April 2014, it was reported that Sandberg had sold more than half of her shares in Facebook since the company went public. At the time of Facebook's IPO, she held approximately 41 million shares in the company; after several rounds of sales she is left with around 17.2 million shares, amounting to a stake of 0.5 per cent in the company, worth about $1 billion.[28]
The New York Times published a report in 2018 detailing Sandberg's role in handling Facebook's public relations after revelations ofRussian interference in the 2016 United States elections and itsCambridge Analytica data scandal.[29] According toThe Wall Street Journal, during a meeting, Zuckerberg blamed Sandberg personally for the outcome of the scandal,[30] and that Sandberg "confided in friends that the exchange rattled her, and she wondered if she should be worried about her job."[30]
On November 29, 2018,The New York Times reported that Sandberg had personally asked Facebook's communications staff to conduct research intoGeorge Soros's finances days after Soros publicly criticized tech companies, including Facebook, at theWorld Economic Forum.[31] In a statement, Facebook said the research into Soros "was already underway when Sheryl [Sandberg] sent an email asking if Mr. Soros had shorted Facebook's stock."[31]
On June 1, 2022, Sandberg announced she would be leaving Meta as COO in the fall of 2022 but would remain on the board of directors.[9][32] Stating a reason for stepping down, Sandberg stated "it is time for me to write the next chapter of my life."[4] In January 2024, she announced that she would be stepping down from the board in May and not running for re-election.[10]
In January 2025, vice chancellor of theDelaware Chancery CourtJ. Travis Laster imposed sanctions on Sandberg for deleting emails from her personal account related to the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal. These emails were relevant to the 2018 shareholder lawsuit, and deleting them violated alitigation hold.[33][34]
Sandberg givesUC Berkeley Commencement Keynote Speech in 2016
In 2008, Sandberg wrote an article forThe Huffington Post in support of her mentor, Larry Summers, who was under fire for his comments about women.[40] She was a keynote speaker at the Jewish Community Federation's Business Leadership Council in 2010.[41] In December 2010, she gave aTED speech titled "Why we have too few women leaders."[42] In May 2011, she gave the Commencement Address at theBarnard College graduation ceremony.[43] She spoke as the keynote speaker at the Class Day ceremony at the Harvard Business School in May 2012.[44] In April 2013, she was the keynote speaker during the second annual Entrepreneur Weekend atColgate University, inHamilton, New York.[45] In 2015, she signed an open letter which theONE Campaign had been collecting signatures for; the letter was addressed toAngela Merkel andNkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, urging them to focus on women as they serve as the head of the G7 in Germany and the AU in South Africa respectively, which will start to set the priorities in development funding before a main UN summit in September 2015 that will establish new development goals for the generation.[46] In 2016, she delivered the Commencement Address at theUniversity of California, Berkeley graduation ceremony. It was the first time she spoke publicly about her husband's death, and stressed the importance ofresilience.[47] The following year she delivered the Commencement Address toVirginia Tech's Class of 2017. On June 8, 2018, she gave the Commencement Address for theMassachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA.[48] She has also served as a member of the advisory board of thePeter G. Peterson Foundation.
The book concerns business leadership and development, issues with the lack of women in government and business leadership positions, and feminism.[49][50][51][52][53][54] As of the fall of 2013, the book had sold more than one million copies and was on top of the bestseller lists since its launch.[55]
The book has been reviewed by various media outlets. InLean Out by former Facebook employee Marissa Orr, the point that women should not have to mimic men and that society needs to change to adapt to women's issues instead is made.[56][57][58] The book has also been criticized byVox Media for overlooking the struggles of mothers who may not be able to "lean in."[59]Zoe Williams inThe Guardian referred toLean In as "an infantilising, reactionary guide for ambitious women."[60] She emphasizes Sandberg's contradictory approach in both criticizing and upholding misogynistic workplace practices. She has further been perceived byThe Guardian as aCOO who avoids engaging in this crisis.[61]
Furthermore, following theFacebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal, Sandberg's willingness to actually lean in has been put into question byRoger McNamee. "She's not leaning in at all,"McNamee said, in a reference to Sandberg's widely read book published five years ago. "If ever there was a time for her to lean in, this is it."[62]
Sandberg released her second book,Option B, in April 2017.Option B is co-authored withAdam Grant, a professor at theWharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. The book puts emphasis ongrief andresilience in challenges within life.[63] It offers practical tips for creating resilience in the family and community. 2.75 million copies have been sold since publication.[64]
In March 2014, Sandberg and Lean In sponsored theBan Bossy campaign, a television and social media campaign designed to discourage the wordbossy from general use owing to its perceived harmful effect on young girls. Several video spots with spokespersons includingBeyoncé,Jennifer Garner, andCondoleezza Rice among others were produced along with a web site providing school training material, leadership tips, and an online pledge form to which visitors can promise not to use the word.[65][66][67]
In April 2024, Screams Before Silence, a documentary fronted by Sandberg, was released to YouTube.[68] The film concerns the reported sexual violence committed byHamas on theOctober 7th attack on Israel.She has described this film as the most important work of her life.[69][70][71] In a speech at the Jewish Federations of North America’s annual General Assembly, Sandberg declared herself to be a "proudZionist."[72]
In November 2016, Sandberg renamed her Lean In Foundation to the Sheryl Sandberg & Dave Goldberg Family Foundation, after herself and her late husband. This new foundation serves as an umbrella for LeanIn.Org and a new organization around her bookOption B. Sandberg also transferred roughly $100,000,000 inFacebook stock to fund the foundation and other charitable endeavors.[73]
In October 2024, Sandberg donated $5 million through her charitable foundation toMarshall University for its 'Marshall For All' program.[74]
Former Facebook employee, turned anti-Facebook activistSarah Wynn-Williams's 2025 memoirCareless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism alleges that on at least two occasions, Sandberg requested that young female staffers, including Wynn-Williams, "come to bed" with her.[75][76] These requests were allegedly made by Sandberg while traveling on Facebook's private jet, where she had a private bedroom.[75][77][78] Other employees present at the time said that Sandberg was merely offering Wynn-Williams a place to sleep during travel, as she was visibly pregnant, and the plane had multiple beds.[79]
The first instance of the request is documented by Wynn-Williams in the chapter "Lean in and Lie Back", where Sandberg allegedly pressures Wynn-Williams to join her in bed.[75] In Wynn-Williams's account, Sandberg admits that she has previously requested this of other young, female colleagues, particularly one named Sadie, noting that "Sadie's slept over lots of times".[76] Wynn-Williams is able to avoid joining Sandberg in her private room in this instance and a second instance documented in a later chapter, "Let Them Eat Cake".[76] Wynn-Williams also alleges that Sandberg invited Sadie, her assistant, to come to her house to try on expensive lingerie purchased with Sandberg’s money, and to stay over.[76]
Wynn-Williams’ claims have never been substantiated and several employees at Facebook during that time have stated publicly that her claims are “exaggerated” and that the stories she tells about Facebook executives “never happened”.[79] After several investigations, it was determined that Wynn-Williams’ claims were “misleading and unfounded”, and that there had been no wrongdoing on the part of Facebook executives.[79]
Several former and current Meta employees have stated publicly that “a bunch of the stories are exaggerated or just didn’t happen” and that Wynn-Williams’ book was “dishonest and distorted.”[79]
Sandberg married Brian Kraff in 1993 and divorced a year later.[80] In 2004, she marriedDave Goldberg, then an executive withYahoo! and later CEO ofSurveyMonkey.[2][55][81] The couple had a son and a daughter.[82]Sandberg and Goldberg frequently discussed being in ashared earning/shared parenting marriage.[83] Sandberg also raised the issue of single parenting conflicting strongly with professional and economic development in America.[84]
On May 1, 2015, Dave Goldberg died unexpectedly, and his death was originally reported as resulting from sustaining ahead trauma falling from atreadmill while the couple was vacationing inMexico.[85] However, an autopsy later suggested that the cause of death was anarrhythmia,[86] as Sandberg subsequently confirmed in an interview.[87]
Sandberg datedActivision Blizzard CEOBobby Kotick from 2016 to 2019.[88] According to an April 21, 2022, report byThe Wall Street Journal, Sandberg was part of a coordinated campaign to prevent theDaily Mail from publishing a story about a temporary restraining order towards Kotick by a former girlfriend in 2014.[89] At the time ofThe Journal's report, Kotick's company was facing lawsuits over allegations ofwidespread sexual misconduct, which Kotick himself was alleged to have participated in.[90][91][92] These campaigns occurred first in 2016 (when Sandberg and Kotick began dating), and again in 2019 (the year they broke up).The Journal stated that Facebook was reviewing whether Sandberg violated the company's rules.[89]
On February 3, 2020, she announced her engagement on Facebook to Kelton Global CEOTom Bernthal.[93][94] They were married in August 2022.[1] Bernthal has three children and Sandberg has two, and they live together inMenlo Park, California.[95][96]
Sandberg was named one of the "25 Most Influential People on the Web" byBusiness Week in 2009.[112]
She has been listed as one of the world's 100 most powerful women byForbes.[113] In 2014, Sandberg was No. 9, just behindMichelle Obama,[114] No. 4 in 2017,[115] and No. 36 in 2021.[116]
In 2012,Newsweek andThe Daily Beast released their first "Digital Power Index", a list of the 100 most significant people in the digital world that year (plus 10 additional "Lifetime Achievement" winners), and she was ranked No. 3 in the "Evangelists" category.[117]
In 2012, she was named inTime 100, an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world assembled byTime.[7]
^Dougherty, Ariel (August 13, 2019)."Sheryl Sandberg Profile".Philanthropy Women.Archived from the original on February 25, 2021. RetrievedMay 14, 2020.
^abRosenberg, Matthew; Confessore, Nicholas (November 30, 2018)."Sheryl Sandberg Is Said to Have Asked Facebook Staff to Research George Soros".The New York Times.Archived from the original on September 26, 2019. RetrievedNovember 30, 2018.In a statement, Facebook said that the company had already begun researching Mr. Soros when Ms. Sandberg made her request. 'Mr. Soros is a prominent investor and we looked into his investments and trading activity related to Facebook,' the company said. 'That research was already underway when Sheryl sent an email asking if Mr. Soros had shorted Facebook's stock.' The company said that while Ms. Sandberg "takes full responsibility for any activity that happened on her watch," she did not personally direct any research on Freedom from Facebook, an anti-Facebook coalition whose members were among the subjects of Definers' later work.
^Dowd, Maureen (February 23, 2013)."Pompom Girl for Feminism".New York Times Sunday Review Op Ed Pages.Archived from the original on October 7, 2016. RetrievedFebruary 20, 2017.
^abcWynn-Williams, Sarah (March 22, 2025).Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism (1st ed.). New York, New York: Flatiron Books (published March 11, 2025). pp. Loc 3124.ISBN978-1250391230.
^abcdWynn-Williams, Sarah (March 22, 2025).Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism (1st ed.). New York, New York: Flatiron Books (published March 11, 2025). pp. Loc 3141.ISBN978-1250391230.
.jpg)
Sheryl Sandberg: Why we have too few women leaders,TED[100]
