Facebook’s COO Hiring: So Quick, So Easy

Call me a cynic but the story about how Facebook found its new chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, comes across as something concocted by a well-paid PR firm.

According to Mark Zuckerberg (via BoomTown), there was never a formal search for a new COO. See what happened is he stumbled upon Sandberg at a Christmas party, and came away impressed. Well, she is a senior executive with Google so I guess one would be pretty impressed, right?

As it turns out Sandberg’s got a lot of fans in Silicon Valley, including Facebook investor Roger McNamee, who also thought Sandberg would make a great hire. Then, Zuckerberg hung out with Sandberg at the World Economic Forum, and one thing led to another and, before you knew it, Facebook had a new COO.

Honestly, this hiring account sounds a little too neat and tidy. You’re a $15-billion company with a 24-year-old CEO, and your hiring process involves meeting someone at a holiday party. Who knows, maybe that’s the way things are done in Silicon Valley but the reporter in me isn’t buying it hook, line and sinker.

I mean, Facebook needed a heavy hitter given some of the strategic, um, challenges, it has had recently such as Beacon. Recruiting an experienced and well-respected COO had to be seen as major hire so you have to believe Facebook’s investors, including Microsoft, would have been encouraging Zuckerberg to find the right person by following the right practices.

Don’t get me wrong, Sandberg sounds like a solid hire but the story of her hiring doesn’t ring true somehow.

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