Thursday, New York Times Post a Long story About the rise to power of Stephen Miller, a longtime loyalist of Donald Trump known for his hard-line views on immigration. Normally, a story like this wouldn’t get much attention in the tech press. But the article opened with an anecdote about Mark Zuckerberg that immediately raised eyebrows.
The story details the last meeting Miller had with Zuckerberg when the Meta CEO traveled to Mar-a-Lago last year. according to The timesZuckerberg — who will soon abandon Meta’s previous fact-checking efforts and abandon corporate diversity programs — “blamed his former COO, Sheryl Sandberg, for Facebook’s inclusion initiative that encouraged employees to express themselves in the workplace.”
This line launched a new round of speculation (and some anger) in technology circles. Sandberg, who left Meta in 2022 and rose to fame after authoring her manifesto for women in the workplace Lean inis best known for its close partnership with Zuckerberg at the top of Facebook. Zuckerberg will blame his former assistant for promoting “inclusivity” in his company, Raised eyebrows Even among longtime observers of the company.
“She always knew who Mark Zuckerberg was and covered him.” New York Times Reporter Shira Frankel, who co-authored a book about Facebook’s dominance, noted On bluesky. “The question is whether she will continue to do so when he blatantly throws her under the (Trump) bus.” Journalist and longtime tech analyst Kara Swisher likewise male that “the people I spoke to tonight from the Mark/Cheryl Facebook era were shocked but not surprised that she was being blamed.”
I also weighed in my own Calculate topicsShare the link to A Business insider story From February that quoted an interview in which Zuckerberg said Sandberg raised him “like a parent.” I joked that the comment wasn’t good.
But on Friday, Zuckerberg decided to let me (and I think everyone) know that he and Sandberg are still cool, after all. “Cheryl has done an amazing job in Meta and will forever be a legend in the industry,” he wrote. to reply To my post. “You created one of the greatest companies of all time and taught me so much of what I know.”
A few minutes later, Sandberg Hop in To let me know there are no hard feelings on her part either. “Thank you, @Zook. I will always be grateful for the many years we spent building a great business together — and for your friendship that helped me get through some of the toughest times in my life and continues to this day.
Zuckerberg responded with Single heart emoji.
I asked Zuckerberg whether he felt Sandberg was too focused on DEI initiatives in the meta, or whether she had moved away from the “masculine energy” he’d been enjoying lately. Joe Rogan said Companies should embody. It is worth noting that he did not deny it The Times Reporting on his comments regarding Sandberg, although he claimed they were misunderstood.
“I answered the question about where the phrase ‘bring your whole self to work’ came from, and now there’s a false narrative that says I blame Cheryl for a bunch of things I never did and would never do.” He said. (Bringing your “whole self” to work is a slogan popularized by Sandberg in 1999 Lean in. Similar language often appeared Meta job site When the company highlighted diversity among its employees. “Being your authentic self is the foundation of our identity as a company,” Meta wrote on one of his pages. It has since been deleted The company’s website page where it shared its internal diversity reports.)
So, I think that settles it. There’s nothing to see here, guys. Mark and Cheryl are definitely still friends. They may not work for the same company anymore, but they are still able to work together to avoid any eventuality Public relations crisis. What could be more inspiring than that?
Updated January 17, 2025 at 4 PM PST: This post has been updated to reflect additional comment from Zuckerberg.