Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has stopped hiring new employees for the time being. Founder Mark Zuckerberg announced Thursday that reorganizations are being carried out in a number of departments to reduce costs.
Meta has grown very quickly for years. But in the second quarter of this year, the company saw a drop in sales for the first time in its history. Advertisers are more cautious about spending, and the company struggles with competing platforms like TikTok.
The freezing of vacancies has so far been the most difficult intervention to deal with the new conditions. Zuckerberg previously warned that Meta would increasingly slow the expansion of its workforce. The company also plans to finish some projects to free up more hands for priorities.
One area in which the company wants to grow is the so-called Reels, which are short videos similar to the music videos that TikTok users make. In addition, Meta still has high expectations for the metaverse, a virtual world in which people can work, play and relax.
So far, Meta’s workforce has grown rapidly. In the months of April, May and June of this year alone, 5,700 employees were added. At the end of June, Meta had more than 83,500 employees.
