If investors' nerves weren’t jangling ahead of Meta’s or Facebook’s results next, social media rival Snap’s dismal update on Thursday will have been a stomach churner.
While it is true that Snap has its own set of problems, underlining its disappointing numbers was the fact that digital advertising is struggling to cope firstly with the economic downturn and also with changes to user tracking introduced by Apple.
That change of policy sparked a major row between the two FAANG giants.
New week’s updates will give a clear steer on which was the winner and few are betting on Meta.
The Facebook owner has already cut its hiring plans by at least 30% this year, with chief executive Mark Zuckerberg warning workers to prepare for a deep economic downturn.
The social media behemoth, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, expects a leaner second half of the year as it contends with macroeconomic pressures and data privacy threats to its advertising business.
"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 told employees, according to reports.
Meta will hire 6,000-7,000 engineers in 2022, down from an original plan to hire 10,000, though the social media company reported hiring pauses earlier too.
Meta paused hiring for several verticals in May, including shopping and Messenger Kids, apart from certain engineering roles and low-level data scientists, sparking fears of layoffs among employees.
The shares have shed 50% of their value over the past year.