Shirley Sandberg is one of the most striking figures in Silicon Valley Javier "Javi" olivan, who succeeded Sandberg as the operation director of meta, the owner of Facebook, was almost a nobody outside the park Sandberg is the author of the 2013 best-selling book "keep improving: women, work and leadership will", and her instagram has more than 900000 followers.
Olivan's instagram account, which has only 17 followers, is private. As of Wednesday, olivan had not posted a public post on his Facebook profile since 2018.
"I want to thank Shirley for what she has done for meta and the billions of people around the world who use our products," olivan wrote on Facebook after the announcement.
On Wednesday, local time, Sandberg said that she would end her 14 years of work in the company so that she could focus on charity. Zuckerberg said that although olivan will serve as coo, he will not replace Sandberg in the organizational structure, "because she is a superstar and defines the role of coo in her own unique way".
Olivan's quiet image in public does not reflect his influence in the company. He is one of the few senior executives who report to Zuckerberg, and he has climbed to the top of the social media company in his nearly 15 years of work. He joined C-suite five months ago as chief growth officer and vice president of cross meta products and infrastructure.
If Sandberg led the construction of Facebook's advertising business, which still accounts for 97% of meta's total revenue, olivan's work in its global expansion is commendable. From 2007 to 2011, his first job at the company was as director of international growth.
According to the performance of meta in the first quarter, more than 91% of monthly users now come from outside the United States and Canada.
Olivan was born in sabinigo, Spain, in 1977. Before coming to Silicon Valley, he worked in Europe and Asia. After obtaining a master's degree in electrical and industrial engineering from the University of Navarre in Spain, he worked as a research and Development Engineer at Siemens in Munich and then at NTT data in Tokyo. In 2007, he graduated from Stanford Business School and joined Facebook.
When he came to Facebook in 2007, less than 50million people were using the app, and a small number of users came from outside the United States. According to the prospectus of vy global growth, the company is a blank check company, and olivan is a member of the board of directors.
In addition to vy global, olivan also worked on the board of the Latin American e-commerce company mercadolibre for six years. In addition, he invested in the geospatial imaging company satellogic before completing the SPAC transaction in January.
But his career has been centred on Facebook. In 2008, olivan accompanied Zuckerberg to attend the activities of Navarra University. He later worked on the internet Org, an effort launched by Facebook and other companies in 2013 to connect people in less developed countries to Internet services.
Extrovert and social
By 2015, internet Org's efforts have brought free Internet services to more than 500million people and connected 7million people who did not use the Internet before. In an email interview with America quarterly, olivan, then Facebook's vice president of growth, said that although the company has become a fixed asset in Latin America, it still has enough room for development in the region.
"Latinos are outgoing and sociable by nature. They have accepted our website, so that in many places, Facebook is synonymous with the Internet," olivan said.
Spanish is the first non English language on Facebook and the first project olivan participated in.
Olivan has been working for the company overseas. Recently, in March, he participated in the state visit of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on behalf of meta.
Olivan also pushed Facebook to acquire WhatsApp, a mobile information application. According to a 2020 report by the Democratic staff of the anti trust Subcommittee of the US House of Representatives, before acquiring WhatsApp with us $19billion in 2014, olivan told Facebook management that WhatsApp was more actively used than Facebook. In addition, he also pointed out that virtually everyone in Spain was using it. Zuckerberg agreed with olivan's analysis that WhatsApp may expose new users to Facebook.
Even if he is promoted, olivan may still receive relatively little attention from the outside world. Sandberg, once the No. 2 person, often updates investors on the quarterly earnings conference call. A meta spokesman declined to comment on whether olivan would follow suit.
Zuckerberg pointed out in his Facebook post that olivan is undertaking the integration of advertising and commercial products, while continuing to operate infrastructure, integrity, analysis, marketing, enterprise development and growth businesses.
Olivan wrote in his Facebook post: "except for some exceptions, I don't expect my role to have the same public aspect, because we have other leaders in meta who are already responsible for this work."