Good morning, Broadsheet readers! The formula shortage is still ongoing; Black mothers and babies are at greater risk during childbirth regardless of their socioeconomic status; and Marne Levine is stepping down as Meta’s chief business officer. Have a happy Valentine’s Day!
Leaving her post. Marne Levine joined Facebook 13 years ago as VP of global policy after she was recruited to the then-startup by her former U.S. Treasury Department colleague, Sheryl Sandberg. Levine rose through the ranks alongside Sandberg, serving as COO of Instagram and, most recently, as chief business officer for Meta.
But Levine will leave her role this month and depart Meta this summer, she announced yesterday, eight months after Sandberg’s own exit announcement. “Meta has and will continue to be a core part of my identity, and I will be forever grateful for this place, for the work we have done together, and for the people—past and present—in it,” Levine wrote in a Facebook post.
As chief business officer, Levine oversaw the tech giant’s $113 billion advertising business, dealing with challenges like the supercharged growth of competitor TikTok. Meta has struggled with three consecutive quarters of declining revenue; the company laid off 11,000 employees, or 13% of its workforce, in November and is reportedly preparing for further cuts.
Coming so soon after Sandberg’s own exit, Levine’s departure is a notable one. In 2021, Carolyn Everson left the company; the former ads chief was seen as a candidate to run the business Levine ended up taking over. All those goodbyes have cost Meta three of the most prominent senior women in its C-suite. While Sandberg jumped into her work on women’s issues after her departure, Levine said she plans to “recharge and prioritize some quality time with family” before beginning her “next professional chapter.”
Nicola Mendelsohn, who reported to Levine as a VP, will inherit half of her job and become head of the global business group; the other half will go to head of online sales, Justin Osofsky. Both executives will report to COO Javier Olivan, who took over from Sandberg.
I spoke to Mendelsohn yesterday after Levine’s announcement. Mendelsohn, a longtime advertising executive who hails from the U.K., first met Levine more than a decade ago and joined the company, then known as Facebook, in 2013. “It’s bittersweet, but it’s an opportunity for Justin and I to take on additional responsibilities,” Mendelsohn told me. Mendelsohn will focus on large-scale partners, while Osofsky oversees small-business purchasers who buy ads without interacting with a Meta staffer.
With some of Levine’s responsibilities now under her belt, Mendelsohn will expand her remit to include both global partnerships and engineering, a restructuring meant to bring product and business closer together. “It creates a single, external-facing business partnerships organization,” she says. The reorg allows Meta to respond to feedback on products like business messaging and reels faster, Mendelsohn says.
While Mendelsohn is now one of Meta’s seniormost women under Olivan and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, she points to other female leaders still in the organization, including new, 37-year-old CFO Susan Li. “We’ve got a strong bench of senior female leaders,” she says. “And they’re the ones who are leading the company in so many different areas.”
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe
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ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
Teen girls struggle. High-school-age girls are struggling with mental health at unprecedented levels, according to the CDC’s 2021 Youth Risk Survey. Fifty-seven percent of teen girls reported that they feel persistently sad or hopeless, and 30% said that they considered taking their own life. Rising violence and sexual violence could be to blame. NBC News
Revisiting the formula shortage. A year after Abbott Nutrition shut down one of just nine factories that produce baby formula in the U.S., shelves remain understocked, and mothers are still scrambling to find inventory. The shortage disproportionately affects low-income women and families, as 65% of formula is bought by families on women, infants, and children (WIC) supplemental nutrition funding. The 19th
New Toyota leadership. Japanese automaker Toyota’s incoming CEO promised a “diverse” group of leaders in terms of their communication styles. But the new CEO, who seeks to push the company’s EV developments, will not have any women among his top seven executives. Bloomberg
Back to work. Although layoffs hit women disproportionately during the pandemic, women are returning to work at higher rates than men. Rising costs of living, a tighter labor market, the easing chaos of pandemic restrictions, and flexible work options were common reasons that women chose this moment to return to the workforce. Washington Post
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to name Lael Brainard as his economic-policy coordinator. Arcadia appointed Christy Martell as SVP of sales, enterprise. Darlyn Phillips is now CFO at Invariant, a government communications firm. Sandra Quince was announced as a board member of the National Council on Nonprofits. Joy Altimare is now CMO at Kindbody fertility clinics.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
‘Single tax.’ Single life can be more expensive than living with a partner. Single Americans, despite shifting norms, rack up more costs than someone in a relationship. Fortune
None of the above. The Florida High School Athletic Association voted to amend their health survey and drop questions that asked about teen girls’ menstrual health. The original survey received a wave of backlash amid state abortion restrictions and bans on transgender girls in sports. Politico
Money can’t buy safety. For Black mothers, childbirth is a disproportionally dangerous endeavor. The richest 20% of Black mothers and their babies are twice as likely as the richest 20% of white mothers and babies to die during childbirth. New York Times
Surfs down. Prominent career surfer Bethany Hamilton threatened to boycott the World Surf League if they open women’s surfing to transgender women. The WSL said the policy, which requires athletes to test for testosterone levels, is in line with Olympic guidelines and aims to “balance equity and fairness.” Washington Post
ON MY RADAR
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The gospel according to Julia Fox Elle
The undeniable royalty of Angela Bassett The New Yorker
PARTING WORDS
“The narrative by men is that no one is watching, there’s no money to be made. It’s nonsensical from a business standpoint.”
—Cheryl Reeve, WNBA coach, on women’s basketball
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