Facebook poaches top Google executive

Social networking site Facebook has hired Google's vice-president of global online sales and operations to be its new chief operating officer.

Sheryl Sandberg, who has held her position at Google since 2002, will begin her new job at Facebook on March 24. She will be responsible for helping Facebook scale its operations and expand its presence globally, the company said.

The site has more than 66 million users but is still struggling with a way to incorporate advertising without alienating users.

"Sheryl is a great manager who will help scale Facebook's operations globally," said chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg in a statement. "She has relevant experience and a track record of scaling business operations and building new kinds of advertising networks.

"Sheryl understands Facebook's goal of connecting everyone in the world and is passionate about building a business that will enable us to realize this mission."

At Google, Sandberg, 38, helped build and manage the company's online sales channels, which represent the majority of its customers worldwide, for both AdWords and AdSense. She also managed global operations for Google's consumer products and helped launch Google.org, the company's philanthropic arm. Sandberg was also chief of staff to the U.S. Treasury secretary under U.S. president Bill Clinton.

Sandberg also has a master's degree in business administration from the Harvard Business School and a bachelor's degree in economics from Harvard College.