Mark Zuckerberg sent a chilling message out to Meta Platforms Inc. employees. He said that the company is facing one of the worst downturns in recent history. This will require a reduction in hiring and a reduction in resource allocation.
According to a Times report, the dire warning was given during an internal videoconference for Meta’s Meta, -0.76%77,800 workers. Zuckerberg warned employees to expect more from fewer resources, and that their performance will be graded more aggressively.
According to the Times, Zuckerberg stated that some people might decide this place is not for them. “Realistically speaking, there are likely a lot of people in the company that shouldn’t be.”
Chris Cox, Meta’s Chief Product Officer, stated in a separate memo that Meta is facing “serious times” as well as economic “headwinds.”
The obvious sign will be fewer employees — Facebook’s parent company, according to the Times, now plans to hire 6,000 to 7,700 engineers in 2018, down from its initial goal of 10,000. was informed by a former employee of Facebook that the Silicon Valley firm has drastically reduced its hiring plans over recent months.
Meta’s advertising business was badly affected by a change to privacy settings to Apple Inc.’s, +1.62% mobile OS system. This restricts the amount of user data that can be collected by Instagram and Facebook. Meta posted its first quarterly profit decline in 10 years, posting two consecutive quarterly losses. After posting desultory February results, Meta suffered a loss of $230 billion in market capital — its worst single-day hit in history.
Meta is also making a risky strategic move to the immersive metaverse. This led to the company’s name changing last year.