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Review focuses on the extent to which staffers worked on her personal projects

The lawyers investigating Facebook operating chief Sheryl Sandberg’s use of corporate resources are examining behavior going back several years, said people familiar with the matter, focusing on the extent to which staffers worked on her personal projects.

A number of employees have been interviewed as part of the investigation by Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc., META -4.58%▼ the people said, adding that the review has been under way since at least last fall.

It includes an examination of the work Facebook employees did to support her foundation, Lean In, which advocates for women in the workplace, as well as the writing and promotion of her second book “Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy,” which focused on her grieving process following the sudden death of her husband, SurveyMonkey MNTV -7.13%▼ CEO Dave Goldberg, in 2015, the people said.

The Wall Street Journal previously reported that the investigation included a review of Ms. Sandberg’s use of corporate resources to help plan her coming wedding. That is a small piece of the investigation, according to the people familiar with the matter, who said it involves a broader review of Ms. Sandberg’s personal use of Facebook’s resources over many years.

Ms. Sandberg, 52 years old, announced last week she was resigning from her day-to-day role after 14 years, though she said she would continue to serve on the board of directors. Ms. Sandberg has been the longtime lieutenant to Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, and in that role—and as the author of the leadership book “Lean In”—became one of the most prominent women in business. Ms. Sandberg said she was looking forward to spending more time on her foundation and women’s issues.

Ms. Sandberg has told friends and co-workers that she decided to step down because she was burned-out and weary of continuing her role as a “punching bag” for Meta’s META -4.58%▼ critics. She also sees Mr. Zuckerberg’s pivot to the so-called metaverse as a multiyear project that she wasn’t eager to take on, not least because it doesn’t directly entail the use of her core strengths in building advertising businesses.

People close to Ms. Sandberg say that while the review has irked her in recent months, it played no role in her decision to leave the company later this year.

“Sheryl did not inappropriately use company resources in connection with the planning of her wedding,” a spokeswoman for Ms. Sandberg said last week.

A Meta spokeswoman declined to comment for this article.

It couldn’t be determined what prompted the investigation into her activities that began in the fall. Some people close to the company said these types of concerns involving Ms. Sandberg had circulated for some time. They said that as Ms. Sandberg’s power within the company appeared to erode in recent years, it became less daunting for internal critics to raise concerns about her management.

That Ms. Sandberg, along with Mr. Zuckerberg, use corporate resources for some personal matters is no secret. The company already makes extensive disclosures about her and Mr. Zuckerberg’s use of corporate resources for certain personal matters. Ms. Sandberg also cited a number of Facebook employees in the acknowledgments section of Option B.

Ms. Sandberg could be asked to repay the company for employee time spent on her personal work, some of the people said. Some within Meta close to the investigation worry about potential Securities and Exchange Commission violations if Ms. Sandberg used professional resources for personal matters without adequate disclosures, although it isn’t yet clear what such violations might be, people familiar with the matter said.

David Larcker, a professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business who focuses on corporate governance, said companies differ in what types of perks they approve for top executives but private jet use and security are often included. Some companies benchmark such benefits with their peers so they can stay competitive with executive compensation practices, whether corporate jet use, financial adviser assistance, country club memberships or otherwise. But using corporate employees who aren’t assistants for personal matters is more rare and likely requires board approval, he added.

Some Meta board members have been frustrated with Ms. Sandberg’s handling of a situation in which she helped press a U.K. tabloid to shelve an article about her former boyfriend, Activision Blizzard Inc. ATVI -0.39%▼ Chief Executive Bobby Kotick, and a 2014 temporary restraining order against him. The matter also became a part of the broader investigation, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Journal previously reported the Kotick issue and a spokeswoman for Meta said at the time: “Sheryl Sandberg never threatened the MailOnline’s business relationship with Facebook in order to influence an editorial decision.” Mr. Kotick has said it was his understanding that the Daily Mail didn’t run the story because it was untrue.

The probe into Ms. Sandberg’s activities follows a renewed effort within Facebook to boost the company’s regulatory compliance, following a $5 billion settlement with the Federal Trade Commission in 2019. Facebook hired its first chief compliance officer last year in order to beef up such checks and balances. Some parts of the investigation into Ms. Sandberg’s actions occurred after more stringent compliance practices were put in place at Meta, some of the people said.

Mr. Zuckerberg and other Facebook executives have sometimes used company resources, including private planes and staff time, to manage their personal affairs as well, according to securities filings, public documents and people familiar with the matter.

The reputation and safety of Mr. Zuckerberg and Ms. Sandberg have been long seen as inextricably linked to the company’s success. Facebook has hired professional pollsters to analyze their personal reputations, according to people familiar with the matter, because they were seen as connected to the image of the company overall.

People close to the executives say many of their activities—and of business executives broadly—aren’t strictly professional or personal but rather a bit of both and enrich them as leaders generally and help the company, including for recruiting.

Mr. Zuckerberg and Ms. Sandberg both use private planes for personal travel as part of their overall security program, according to Facebook’s latest proxy. Both executives also receive personal security at their residences as well as during personal travel, paid for by the company.

In 2021, Facebook paid nearly $9 million for Ms. Sandberg’s security at her homes and during personal travel and $2.3 million for costs related to her personal use of private planes, according to the company’s most recent proxy. Facebook spent $15.2 million on Mr. Zuckerberg’s security and $1.6 million in private plane costs.

Facebook staff assisted Ms. Sandberg during both of her book tours and in the acknowledgments of Option B, she thanked many employees for their assistance in putting the book together. It was also not uncommon for Facebook staffers to help Ms. Sandberg with work involving her foundation and sometimes assist with tasks for her family, according to people close to the matter.

Some people close to Ms. Sandberg said it was often more efficient to work that way.

Facebook employees also worked on Mr. Zuckerberg’s projects, including his 2017 tour of 30 American states, according to public records. One stop in Glacier National Park in Montana, Mr. Zuckerberg was joined by at least three full-time Facebook employees, according to public records.

At the time, he called it a “personal challenge.”

Progressives thought they had their dream pick to lead the Federal Trade Commission last year when President Biden nominated Lina Khan — but her management style is leading to staff discontent and risks derailing her ambitions, The Post has learned.

Khan, who made a name for herself as a wunderkind legal scholar and critic of Amazon prior to her Elizabeth Warren-backed confirmation as FTC Chair in June 2021, has promised to aggressively fight monopolies in the tech space and elsewhere.

Yet sources close to the agency, which has a mandate to enforce antitrust law and protect consumers, say that academic brilliance doesn’t necessarily translate into management ability — and that its 33-year-old leader’s inexperience has longtime staffers at the 1,100-person agency heading for the exits.

For example, Office of International Affairs director Randy Tritell is expected to leave later this month after 24 years with the agency, two sources close to the FTC said. Tritell had taken issue with Khan’s management style and had seen several members of his team reassigned to work on mergers and acquisitions, the sources said.

FTC spokesperson Peter Kaplan declined to comment on Tritell’s departure but said that the agency has “had to identify creative ways to re-allocate internal resources to help with this intense workload.” Tritell declined to comment.

nsiders worry that internal conflict and brain drain could handicap Khan’s ability to execute her agenda at a time when the FTC is already juggling several high-profile projects, including an antitrust lawsuit seeking to force Meta to sell off Instagram and WhatsApp and a probe of Amazon that includes scrutiny of its recent acquisition of film studio MGM that may lead to an eventual lawsuit.

“They’ve put her in this position of running an important federal agency when she has zero experience doing this kind of thing,” Eileen Harrington, a former executive director of the FTC who spent 27 years at the agency, told The Post. “She’s a rising star who’s been thrown off the deep end.”

‘People were devastated’

Staffers gripe that Khan meets with rank-and-file employees far less frequently than previous FTC chairs — and is perceived as favoring likeminded law professors over experienced litigators and staffers who understand the nitty-gritty details of running a federal agency.

Harrington, a self-described Democrat, said she started receiving distressing calls from friends at the agency shortly after Khan took the reins last year. Khan took far longer to introduce herself to staff than previous chairs and had a dismissive attitude toward career employees, sources close to the agency said.

“People were devastated that all they were getting from the chair’s office was criticism, refusal to engage,” Harrington said, adding that some called Khan “abusive” and a “tyrant.”

“They started quitting,” she said.

Kaplan, the FTC spokesperson, countered that Khan met with leaders of each FTC team in her first two months. Khan has also met with “the full staff of nearly every office in the agency” and given staffers opportunities to ask questions and share suggestions, according to Kaplan.

In addition to Tritell’s previously unreported plan to depart this month, other high-profile figures who have ditched the FTC since Khan joined include the agency’s former top economist Marta Wosinska, ex-privacy and identity protection chief Maneesha Mithal and former Bureau of Consumer Protection deputy director Daniel Kaufman.

“People with 15, 25 years of seniority are leaving,” Kaufman, who left in October after 23 years at the agency, told The Post. “That’s fairly unprecedented in the kind of number that I’m seeing.”

In a flurry of interviews with media outlets published Thursday, Khan vowed to pursue more “big lawsuits” that “focus on what we see as some of the biggest problems.”

Kaufman argues that Khan will have a tough time accomplishing her goals without longtime staff on her side.

“The senior career staff are the people who really understand the agency inside and out and understand how to get things done,” said Kaufman, who has since joined law firm BakerHostelter. “It’s a huge loss for the agency.”

Since October, at least 40 FTC staffers have left the agency for new jobs, including roles at Big Tech firms including Amazon, Apple and Google, MLex reported earlier in June.

“Chair Khan’s aggressive enforcement approach has meant that FTC lawyers are in high demand, especially by tech companies with a history of violating FTC orders,” Kaplan said in response to the staff defections, claiming that the staff attrition rate has been on par with the first 12 months of the agency’s two previous chairs.

Khan’s allies argue that her overhaul is necessary to reinvigorate a stagnant FTC, even if it ruffles some feathers.

“The FTC has been moribund and ineffective for years and the result has been out of control corporate concentration,” said Dan Geldon, a consultant and former senior adviser to Elizabeth Warren. “Lina is acting quickly and boldly to reverse the tide and she should continue doing that regardless of whether it provokes some insider griping.”

The discontent isn’t limited to managers. An internal survey showed that the percentage of staffers across the entire agency who have a “high level of respect” for the the agency’s senior leaders nosedived from 83% in 2020 to 49% in 2021, as first reported by The Information in April.

Following the release of the poll, Khan rolled back a ban on public speaking that had angered employees — and her chief of staff apologized for making “people feel like they do not have our trust and respect,” according to the outlet. Staffers grumbled that the mea culpa came just before the Office of Personnel Management began sending out the 2022 edition of the morale survey.

Asked about the 2021 survey results, Kaplan said Khan has taken “a number of concrete steps to address staff feedback” and that she “shares the passion of the FTC staff for the work they do” and “has enormous respect for their diligence and expertise.”

‘Ever-increasing workload’

In May, Khan asked Congress to up the agency’s budget from $377 million to $490 million so that she can hire more staff and cope with its “ever-increasing workload,” citing a wave of mergers and acquisitions.

Even Khan’s harshest critics concede that the FTC deserves more funding, but they also are concerned that the agency isn’t using its current resources effectively.

For example, some career FTC staffers bristled at a New Yorker profile of Khan published in November that paraphrased Khan as saying “she intends to steer the agency to choose consequential cases, with less emphasis on the outcomes.”

While Khan backers praise this attitude as evidence of her transformative vision, some critics have interpreted it as evidence that the chair plans to send staffers on wild goose chases that will result in headlines but not substantive legal victories.

Harrington went even further: “If the idea is, ‘We’re going to sue you even though we think we can’t win because this is what we think the law should be’ — honestly I think this is an abuse of power.”

In response to Harrington’s criticism, Kaplan said: “As Chair Khan has stated, her concern is that not taking action against illegal deals and practices sends a signal to the market that lawbreaking is acceptable. Given the agency’s limited resources, she is focused on targeting the largest actors that are inflicting the most harm and the root causes of harm to prevent it from recurring.”

Last December, the agency sued to block US chipmaker Nvidia’s $40 billion acquisition of U.K. chip designer Arm, arguing that the deal would let Nivida stifle competition in the computing space. Two months later, the companies called off the deal. American weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin also ditched plans to buy rocket engine maker Aerodyne for $4.4 billion in February following FTC opposition.

But critics also point to the number of new cases brought by the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, which fell more than half from 79 in 2020 to 31 in 2021, according to Kaufman.

He said that the agency is on track to exceed last year’s figure this year, but that it’s a remarkably low bar.

“The 2021 numbers were so low that if they didn’t beat that number it would be truly shocking,” he said.

Additional reporting by Lydia Moynihan

…is that there aren’t enough to go around. We go inside the private aviation “crisis” of 2022