Sheryl Sandberg's advertising empire leaves a complicated legacy

Sandberg was one of the people who made Google's ad business so enormous that it became an essential part of every advertiser's budget

Sheryl Sandberg once remarked that she felt she was put on earth to scale organisations — and during her career as one of the most powerful executives in Silicon Valley, she plowed straight toward that grandiose vision. As an advertising head at Google in the mid-2000s, and as chief operating officer at Facebook for 14 years until her resignation Wednesday, Sandberg oversaw a period during which the internet services ballooned to colossal sizes, fed by a seemingly endless fountain of advertising revenue.

Though Sandberg may get most of her name recognition from Lean In — her 2013 blockbuster book encouraging women