Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg need you to know they’re nonetheless pals and positively not mad at one another

On Thursday, The New York Occasions printed a prolonged story concerning the rise in energy of Stephen Miller, a longtime loyalist of Donald Trump recognized for his hardline views on immigration. Usually, a narrative like that wouldn’t get a lot consideration within the tech press. However the piece opened with an anecdote about Mark Zuckerberg that instantly raised eyebrows.

The story detailed a current assembly Miller had with Zuckerberg when the Meta CEO traveled to Mar-a-Lago final yr. In response to The Occasions, Zuckerberg — who would quickly resign Meta’s prior truth checking efforts and ditch company variety packages — “blamed his former chief working officer, Sheryl Sandberg, for an inclusivity initiative at Fb that inspired staff’ self-expression within the office.”

That line set off a contemporary spherical of hypothesis (and a few outrage) in tech circles. Sandberg, who left Meta in 2022 and rose to fame after authoring her girls within the office manifesto Lean In, was recognized for her as soon as shut partnership with Zuckerberg on the high of Fb. That Zuckerberg would blame his former high lieutenant for fostering “inclusivity” at his firm, raised eyebrows even amongst longtime observers of the corporate.

“She all the time knew who Mark Zuckerberg and coated for him,” New York Occasions reporter Sheera Frankel, who co-wrote a e-book about Fb’s dominance, noticed on Bluesky. “ The query is whether or not she is going to proceed to take action when he so blatantly throws her below the (Trump) bus.” Journalist and longtime tech pundit Kara Swisher likewise famous that “of us I talked to tonight from the Mark/Sheryl Fb period are shocked however not shocked by his blaming her.”

I additionally weighed in on my Threads account, sharing a hyperlink to a Enterprise Insider story from February that quoted an interview through which Zuckerberg stated that Sandberg had raised him “like a mum or dad.” I joked that the remark hadn’t aged effectively.

However on Friday, Zuckerberg determined to let me (and I suppose everybody else) know that he and Sandberg are nonetheless cool, in any case. “Sheryl did wonderful work at Meta and can without end be a legend within the trade,” he wrote in a reply to my put up. “She constructed one of many best companies of all time and taught me a lot of what I do know.”

A couple of minutes later, Sandberg jumped in to helpfully let me know there are not any laborious emotions on her aspect, both. “Thanks, @zuck. I’ll all the time be pleased about the numerous years we spent constructing an incredible enterprise collectively – and to your friendship that obtained me via a few of the hardest instances of my life and continues to at the present time.”

Zuckerberg responded with a single coronary heart emoji.

I requested Zuckerberg if he felt Sandberg was too centered on DEI initiatives at Meta, or whether or not she took away from the “masculine power” he just lately advised Joe Rogan companies ought to embody. Notably, he has not denied The Occasions’ reporting about his feedback relating to Sandberg, although he claimed they’re being misconstrued.

“I answered a query about the place the phrase ‘convey your complete self to work’ got here from, and now there’s an entire bogus narrative saying I blamed Sheryl for a bunch of stuff that I by no means did and by no means will,” he stated. (Bringing your “complete self” to work is a slogan popularized by Sandberg in Lean In. Related language usually appeared on Meta’s careers web site when the corporate highlighted variety amongst its staff. “Being your genuine self is the muse of who we’re as an organization,” Meta wrote on a since-deleted web page of its company web site the place it shared its inner variety experiences.)

So, I suppose that settles it. Nothing to see right here, of us. Mark and Sheryl are positively nonetheless pals. They could not work on the identical firm anymore, however they’re nonetheless capable of come collectively to move off a possible PR disaster. What might be extra inspiring than that?

Replace, January 17, 2025, 4PM PT: This put up was up to date to mirror an extra remark from Zuckerberg.