Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s Facebook is expected to cut thousands of jobs this week amidst the global economic downturn which has seen its share price fall by roughly 73% so far this year, according to media reports.
Meta had previously announced a hiring freeze in September, prior to reports of job cuts appearing, highlighting it had 87,000 staff members at the end of the month, of which up to 12,000 could reportedly be cut.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the job cuts will be announced on Wednesday, following CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s previous comments that some of Facebook’s teams would “stay flat or shrink over the next year”.
“In aggregate, we expect to end 2023 as either roughly the same size, or even a slightly smaller organization than we are today,” Zuckerberg said.
Meta has seen its share price consistently hit this year, with a 13% daily fall after it reported its third-quarter results marking a particularly harsh day for the company.
Within its results, Meta also reported a 52% decrease in net income compared to the same period in 2021, whilst revenue beat expectations but still saw a 4% drop from last year.
Falling share prices have seen the company go from being valued at over US$1trn in 2021 to US$270bn this year.