Facebook Inc (FB) COO Sandberg Says ‘She Is Not Running For Office’

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Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), put an end to speculation that she may be planning to leave the social network giant to join the political arena.

Facebook Inc (FB) COO Sandberg Says 'She Is Not Running For Office'

No plans to run for office

In an interview with Savanna Guthrie’s Today show on NBC, Sandberg emphasized that she ruled out the idea of running for office and politics is not for her.

Sandberg said, “I have no plans to run for office. I love my job. I love what we do every day to connect the world and I love being able to work on “Lean In” in my personal time.”

Sandberg was on CNBC promoting her new book Lean in For Graduates, which teaches young women how to find their way towards success in the real world immediately after graduating from college. Lean In for Graduates is a sequel to her first bestseller Lean In.

Confusion & speculation

Speculations arose that she was planning to leave Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) after the media noticed that she recently sold a large number of her shares in the company. Since the social network giant went public in 2012, the amount of the shares she sold were worth $398 million. She used some of the proceeds to pay taxes and she still owns a 0.5% stake in the company.

Last week, Andrew Bush, editor and publisher of The Bush Update and a CNBC contributor wrote, “It leads one to believe that you should be a little bit nervous here, a little bit concerned about Sandberg because she was the adult that was brought in to help run Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB). They’ve obviously had tremendous success with her. But, I wonder what the conversation was about buying WhatsApp. Was that an agreed-upon thing between those two or was there a schism there that may have led her to sell?”

During the interview, Sandberg pointed out that there has been “some confusion” regarding the sale of her share in Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB). According to her, “A good chunk of what was sold was all for taxes.”

Good reason to stay

Ben Pimentel of Market Watch opined that there is a good reason for Sandberg to remain at Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) based on a new report released by J.P Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth. The analyst noted that the selloff in technology stocks including Facebook has been “swift and significant” and “it has created some attractive opportunities in companies with continued strong fundamentals and growth potential ahead.”

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