Facebook: Sandberg Asked Staff to Research Soros Finances

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NEW YORK (AP) — Having already acknowledged that it did opposition research on George Soros, Facebook FB says No. 2 executive Sheryl Sandberg had asked staff if the billionaire philanthropist had financial motivations against the company.

Friday’s statement is in response a New York Times article that describes Sandberg asking Facebook staff to look into Soros’ financial interests in speaking out against the company in January. Facebook said the company was already researching Soros when Sandberg sent an email asking if Soros had shorted Facebook stock. Shorting a stock is essentially taking a bet it will decline.

Soros’s Open Society Foundations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.

In a Thanksgiving eve post, outgoing executive Elliot Schrage took the blame for hiring the public relations firm doing opposition research on critics.