Meta is aiming to cut costs and slash hiring plans during the second half of the year. During a recent Q&A session with employees, Mark Zuckerberg told employees to prepare for a harsh economic downturn in the near future.
“If I had to bet, I’d say that this might be one of the worst downturns that we’ve seen in recent history,” Zuckerberg said on Thursday, according to Reuters.
To prepare for what is expected to come, Meta has downsized its plans to hire new engineers. The company reportedly planned to hire approximately 10,000 engineers in the near future. Now, Meta will look to hire anywhere between 6,000 and 7,000 new engineers. Additionally, Meta may look to cut other teams and departments in the future. Zuckerberg reportedly told employees that he would be “turning up the heat” on performance evaluation to eliminate certain employees.
“Realistically, there are probably a bunch of people at the company who shouldn’t be here,” Zuckerberg said, according to Reuters.
“Part of my hope by raising expectations and having more aggressive goals, and just kind of turning up the heat a little bit, is that I think some of you might decide that this place isn’t for you, and that self-selection is OK with me.”
Zuckerberg was not the only Meta executive to express such sentiments. In a memo obtained by The Verge, Meta Chief Product Officer Chris Cox warned employees that “serious times” are ahead.
“I have to underscore that we are in serious times here and the headwinds are fierce,” Cox wrote, according to The Verge.
“We need to execute flawlessly in an environment of slower growth, where teams should not expect vast influxes of new engineers and budgets.”
