Facebook’s parent company Meta is cutting rental plans while Mark Zuckerberg warns of “one of the worst downturns in recent history”.
The social media giant plans to hire as many as 40 pct fewer engineers than he previously predicted, amid an economic downturn and as privacy changes hit its advertising business.
Meta CEO Meta Zuckerberg outlined the changes to staff on Thursday.
“If I had to bet, I would say it might be one of the worst downturns we’ve seen in recent history,” he told employees, according to a recording of the event leaked to Reuters.
He said Meta would hire between 6,000 and 7,000 engineers, compared to previous plans for about 10,000.
Mr Zuckerberg’s remarks reflect those of fellow tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, who is cutting 3,500 jobs due to a “super bad feeling” about the economy.
Mr Zuckerberg said many staff leaving would not be replaced and bosses would be encouraged to identify employees who were not pulling their weight.
“Realistically speaking, there are probably a lot of people at the company who should not be here,” he said.
“Part of my hope by raising expectations and having more aggressive goals, and just raising the heat a little bit, is that I think some of you may decide that this place is not for you, and that self-selection is good with me.”
Meta has grown slowly in recent years, from 17,048 employees in 2016 to 71,970 last year. Expansion of its workforce has reflected growth in its user base, profits and sales.
However, the company unveiled its first ever drop in daily users earlier this year amid growing competition from TikTok. In April, it revealed its slowest revenue growth ever and a 21pc drop in profits as ad sales were affected by privacy controls on Apple iPhones.
Meta, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, has already frozen appointments in several parts of its business.
The changes come as the company tries to reposition itself around the “metaverse”, online worlds acquired by virtual reality.
Meta lost more than half of its value this year, with shares falling 52pc.
The slower hiring rate comes because many technology companies are cutting jobs amid a widespread downturn. Tesla, Netflix and Coinbase have all cut jobs in recent months.