In an effort to reduce expenses during tough economic times, Facebook parent company Meta informed its staff on Thursday (Sept 29) that it would be halting hiring.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Mark Zuckerberg, the head of Meta, announced a plan to freeze recruiting during a weekly all-hands meeting, adding that the decision came as the social media giant planned to cut expenses by at least 10 per cent.
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Bloomberg reported that Zuckerberg, during a weekly session, said, “I had hoped the economy would have more clearly stabilised by now, but from what we’re seeing it doesn’t yet seem like it has, so we want to plan somewhat conservatively.”
As advertisers reduced spending to prepare for an impending recession, some tech companies have been forced to reduce personnel in recent months. Additionally, Zuckerberg indicated on Thursday that Meta would cut budgets for the majority of teams and that each team would have to decide how to manage headcount changes.
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However, Meta had long provided growth that seemed to go upward, and this time it just recorded its first global daily user decrease. The economic downturn, which made advertisers cut their marketing budgets, and Apple’s data privacy regulations, had limited scope for personalisation. In the second-quarter earnings call, the company refrained from referring to Zuckerberg’s warning about a drop in headcount over the next year.
Although general hiring freezes had been acknowledged by the company in May, precise numbers had not been disclosed yet.
This year, tech companies, including Snap and e-commerce Amazon, have announced layoffs.
(With inputs from agencies)
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