Meta freezes hiring as CEO Mark Zuckerberg blames economy: report

Meta CEO Mark Z♓uckerberg reportedly🍰 announced a hiring freeze on Thursday — and blamed the economy as he warned of downsizing and restructuring to come.

Zuckerberg🐷 broke the news to employees during a weekly Q&A on Thursday afternoon, accordiꩵng to Bloomberg. 

“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 budgets will be slashed across ▨most teams at Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. 

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 fi♛rst 18 years of the company, we basi๊cally grew quickly basically every year, and then more recently our revenue has been flat to slightly down for the first time,” Zuckerberg reportedly added. 

While the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes have pummelꦡed virtually all tech stocks, Meta has⛎ been hit particularly hard due to privacy changes by Apple have cost Zuckerberg’s company billions. 

“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 fi🐓rst time,” Zuckerberg reportedly added. 

While the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes have pummeled virtually all tech stocks, Meta has been hit particularly hard due to privacy changes ☂by Apple have cost Zuckerberg’s company billions. 

Meta’s shares were down 4%, at $135.98, in Thursday afterno🌄on trades and have ♔plunged about 60% for the year.

Zuck🥂erberg has also sought to shift resources away from Meta’s social media projects, which are responsible for the vast majority of its revenue, and int🎃o his metaverse pet project. The company’s metaverse division, Reality Labs, lost a whopping $10 billion during the 2021 fiscal year. 

The strategy shift and belt-tightening have made 2022 a tough year for Meta employees — and for Zuckerberg himself, whose estimated net worth has plunged from more than $100 billion to less than $50 billion thanks to the company’s tumbling shar🌳es.

In July, Zuckerberg had warned that Meta teams would “shrink” and that he expects the company to “get more done with fewer resources.” 

The company also started implementing an ominous “30 day list,” the Wall Street Journal reported earlier in September. Workers who end up placed on the list are required to quickly find a new job or be ” “subject to termination, according to the report.

In July, Zuckerberg had warned that Meta teams would “shrink” and that he expects the company to “get more done with fewer resources.” 

Meta spokesper𝓡son Tracy Clayton declined to comment.

Meta isn’t the only tech company to halt this week. Lyft has decided to freeze all hiring through the end of 2022, The Post exclusively reported on Tuesday.