Sheryl Sandberg Quietly Plans To Donate Massive Wealth In Late Husband’s Honor
Sheryl Sandberg and Dave Goldberg, 2013 Image by Getty Images
Sheryl Sandberg owns a 10 percent stake in SurveyMonkey, the popular online survey-making service, where her late husband Dave Goldberg served as CEO. SurveyMonkey filed to go public this week, and Business Insider reports that documentation announcing the company’s IPO plans say that Sandberg plans to donate her stake in the company entirely to charity. At 10 percent ownership of a major company, the stake will likely be worth a significant amount of money.
Sandberg joined the board of SVMK, the SurveyMonkey company, two months after her husband’s sudden death in 2015. She has been outspoken about her loss, penning viral notes about her experiences and eventually writing the book “Option B,” which, like her watershed book “Lean In,” is accompanied by a non-profit organization of the same name. Zander Lurie, the company’s current CEO, wrote in the IPO documents about the impact of the loss of Goldberg. “I believe the company is more empathetic, more resilient and more determined because of Dave’s life and death,” he wrote.
Sandberg’s gift, which, in its lack of fanfare, makes it an example of Maimonides-approved tzedakah, follows up on her commitment to The Giving Pledge, an effort spearheaded by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett, that asks the uber-wealthy to donate the majority of their wealth to worthy causes. Sandberg’s choice of charity remains unknown.
Jenny Singer is the deputy lifestyle editor for the Forward. You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
