Meta Freezes Hiring as CEO Mark Zuckerberg Blames Economy – On Thursday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly announced a hiring freeze, blaming the economy and warning of further downsizing and restructuring. According to Bloomberg, Zuckerberg informed staff of the news during a weekly Q&A session on Thursday afternoon.
“I had hoped the economy would have more clearly stabilized by now, but from what we’re seeing it doesn’t yet seem like it has, so we want to plan somewhat conservatively,” Zuckerberg reportedly said. Zuckerberg reportedly added that most teams at Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, will have their budgets slashed.
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Some teams will “manage out people who aren’t succeeding” while others will not replace employees who leave the company, Zuckerberg reportedly said. “For the first 18 years of the company, we basically grew quickly basically every year, and then more recently our revenue has been flat to slightly down for the first time,” Zuckerberg reportedly added.
Mostly all tech stocks have been affected by the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes, but Meta has been hit especially hard because Apple’s changes to privacy have cost Zuckerberg’s company billions. Meta’s shares were down 4% on Thursday afternoon, trading at $135.98. For the year, they have dropped about 60%.
Zuckerberg has also tried to move resources away from Meta’s social media projects, which bring in most of its revenue, and toward his pet project, the metaverse. During the 2021 fiscal year, the company’s Reality Labs division, which was in charge of the metaverse, lost a huge $10 billion.
The change in strategy and tightening of spending have made 2022 a hard year for Meta employees and for Zuckerberg, whose estimated net worth has dropped from more than $100 billion to less than $50 billion as a result of the company’s dwindling shares. In July, Zuckerberg had warned that Meta teams would “shrink” and that he expects the company to “get more done with fewer resources.”
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The Wall Street Journal reported in early September that the company also started to use a scary “30-day list.” According to the report, “workers who end up on the list are required to quickly find a new job or be subject to termination.” In July, Zuckerberg said that Meta teams would “shrink” and that he expected the company to “get more done with fewer resources.” Tracy Clayton, a spokesperson for Meta, declined to make a comment.
