Mark Zuckerberg details how Meta is facing tougher economic times

The company is also currently in the midst of a major change in strategy, as it attempts to focus more on the Metaverse, augmented reality and virtual reality – and their potential for new advertising income and other revenue streams.

Fewer new employees, but no employment freeze

Although Meta said late last week that it is slowing down on the hiring of new workers, this does not mean a ‘no hire’ policy is in place and it will still be taking on new engineers, in particular. 

There are also no plans to lay off workers – although news agency Reuters has reported on an internal address that Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg made to the company workforce, in which he said he expected that some employees would find the company was no longer the place for them and would be leaving. He called it “self-selection” and said it was “okay with me”.

Last week, Zuckerberg said in an earnings call with analysts that Meta planned to slow the pace of some investments because of its current challenging growth prospects.

“After the start of Covid, the acceleration of e-commerce led to outsized revenue growth, but we’re now seeing that trend back off,” he is quoted as saying by broadcaster CNN. He noted that the company’s immediate focus would be on short-form video and the Metaverse.