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Tag: Mark Zuckerberg

  • Meta Is Laying Off Another 10,000, Touts ‘Year of Efficiency’

    Meta Is Laying Off Another 10,000, Touts ‘Year of Efficiency’

    Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced the company is laying off an additional 10,000 employees and closing additional open roles.

    Meta laid off 11,000 in November, the biggest layoff of 2022. Rumors have been circulating for weeks that Meta planned another round of layoffs, which Zuckerberg has just announced:

    With less hiring, I’ve made the difficult decision to further reduce the size of our recruiting team. We will let recruiting team members know tomorrow whether they’re impacted. We expect to announce restructurings and layoffs in our tech groups in late April, and then our business groups in late May. In a small number of cases, it may take through the end of the year to complete these changes. Our timelines for international teams will also look different, and local leaders will follow up with more details. Overall, we expect to reduce our team size by around 10,000 people and to close around 5,000 additional open roles that we haven’t yet hired.

    Zuckerberg says the hiring freezes will be lifted once the company’s reorganization is complete:

    After restructuring, we plan to lift hiring and transfer freezes in each group. Other relevant efficiency timelines include targeting this summer to complete our analysis from our hybrid work year of learning so we can further refine our distributed work model. We also aim to have a steady stream of developer productivity enhancements and process improvements throughout the year.

    A major focus of the company’s efforts is reducing the various layers of management, streamlining and flattening the company’s communication:

    In our Year of Efficiency, we will make our organization flatter by removing multiple layers of management. As part of this, we will ask many managers to become individual contributors. We’ll also have individual contributors report into almost every level — not just the bottom — so information flow between people doing the work and management will be faster.

    Meta’s image has already been tarnished, in the eyes of its employees, after its first round of layoffs. Many blame Zuckerberg and his obsession with the metaverse. Laying off another 10,000 employees is not likely to improve that perception.

  • Meta Plans a Second Round of Layoffs This Week

    Meta Plans a Second Round of Layoffs This Week

    Meta is preparing for another round of layoffs, with the company reportedly dropping the bad news this week.

    Meta engaged in a massive round of layoffs in late 2022, letting some 11,000 employees go. Rumors have been building for weeks that the company planned another round of layoffs, even going so far as to give thousands poor performance reviews, in what many believed was a precursor.

    According to Bloomberg, the next round of layoffs could hit as soon as this week and will likely impact thousands of additional employees.

    Meta’s image and reputation have already been tarnished by its layoffs. Employees have become increasingly disillusioned with the company and CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s leadership in particular. Zuckerberg is seen, both in and outside the company, as being obsessed with the metaverse.

    This obsession has led some employees to believe Zuckerberg will ultimately cause the death of the company.

    “The Metaverse will be our slow death,” one user, identifying as a senior software developer, posted on the anonymous forum Blind late last year. “Mark Zuckerberg will single-handedly kill a company with the meta-verse.”

    When the company announced its first round of 11,000 layoffs, Zuckerberg took responsibility for the action.

    “I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here,” he said at the time. “I know this is tough for everyone, and I’m especially sorry to those impacted.”

    With another round of layoffs looming, it’s a safe bet the angst at Meta is about to get a lot worse, and the company’s image will continue to suffer.

  • Meta Plans to Incorporate AI Across Its Platforms

    Meta Plans to Incorporate AI Across Its Platforms

    Meta is preparing to incorporate artificial intelligence across its platforms, playing catch-up to Microsoft and Google.

    Microsoft has been leading the charge on AI, incorporating next-generation ChatGPT tech into Bing. Google is similarly attempting to deploy AI across its services. Meta, on the other hand, has been noticeably absent from any discussions regarding AI — at least until Monday.

    In a Facebook post, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company plans to roll out AI across the company’s various products and services:

    We’re creating a new top-level product group at Meta focused on generative AI to turbocharge our work in this area. We’re starting by pulling together a lot of the teams working on generative AI across the company into one group focused on building delightful experiences around this technology into all of our different products. In the short term, we’ll focus on building creative and expressive tools. Over the longer term, we’ll focus on developing AI personas that can help people in a variety of ways. We’re exploring experiences with text (like chat in WhatsApp and Messenger), with images (like creative Instagram filters and ad formats), and with video and multi-modal experiences. We have a lot of foundational work to do before getting to the really futuristic experiences, but I’m excited about all of the new things we’ll build along the way.

    Given Zuckerberg’s obsession with the metaverse, it’s almost surprising to see something else capture his attention enough to warrant a “new top-level product group.” That fact that AI is that thing only emphasizes the importance of the burgeoning tech.

  • Meta Plans to Lay Off More Personnel

    Meta Plans to Lay Off More Personnel

    Meta appears to be moving forward with plans to lay off additional personnel despite CEO Mark Zuckerberg indicating the contrary.

    Meta laid off 11,000 employees in late 2022, marking the biggest layoffs of the year among tech firms. According to The Washington Post, Zuckerberg framed the layoffs as a necessary step to “minimize the chance of having to do broad layoffs like this for the foreseeable future.”

    “I obviously can’t sit here and promise you that nothing will happen in the future because it’s a very volatile environment,” he added. “But what I can say is that for where we are right now, that’s what I foresee.”

    Unfortunately, according to the Post, Meta appears to be preparing for another major round of layoffs, despite Zuckerberg’s assurances. The company is having its lawyers, financial experts, executives, and human resources personnel devise a plan that would reorganize the company and possibly lead to thousands of jobs being cut.

    Part of leadership’s goal is to flatten the corporate hierarchy, reducing the path between Zuckerberg and the company’s interns. The move will see some team leaders taking on lower-level roles. The Post’s sources said the company expects some of the individuals whose roles have changed to eventually resign, naturally reducing the company’s headcount through attrition.

    The Post’s report confirms other rumors regarding the company’s plans. Meta recently gave thousands of its employees the second-lowest review possible, raising concerns it was laying the groundwork for another round of layoffs.

    Meta’s actions also appear to be a concerted effort to streamline its operations and return to the startup-style way of operating it enjoyed before becoming a multi-billion dollar corporation. The company has recently taken fire for its ‘self-sabotaging’ behavior by none other than legendary developer John Carmack.

    “We have a ridiculous amount of people and resources, but we constantly self-sabotage and squander effort,” Carmack wrote when he departed the company in December. “There is no way to sugar coat this; I think our organization is operating at half the effectiveness that would make me happy.”

    “I have never been able to kill stupid things before they cause damage, or set a direction and have a team actually stick to it,” he added.

  • Meta Is Testing ‘Meta Verified’ Service

    Meta Is Testing ‘Meta Verified’ Service

    Meta is taking on Twitter Blue, testing a “Meta Verified” service that would allow content creators to distinguish themselves.

    The company, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, made the announcement Sunday:

    To help up-and-coming creators grow their presence and build community faster, today Mark Zuckerberg announced that we’ll begin testing a new offering called Meta Verified, a subscription bundle on Instagram and Facebook that includes a verified badge that authenticates your account with government ID, proactive account protection, access to account support, and increased visibility and reach. We’re starting with a gradual test in Australia and New Zealand later this week to learn what’s most valuable, and we hope to bring Meta Verified to the rest of the world soon.

    The new service will give creators a verified badge; better protection against impersonation; better reach and visibility; live support; and exclusive features to help verified creators reach their audience.

    The price starts at $11.99, with a $3 extra charge to subscribe on iOS or Android:

    Meta Verified is available for direct purchase on Instagram or Facebook in Australia and New Zealand starting later this week. People can purchase a monthly subscription for (USD) 11.99 on the web and (USD) 14.99 on iOS and Android.

  • John Carmack Pens Damning Memo Announcing His Departure From Meta

    John Carmack Pens Damning Memo Announcing His Departure From Meta

    Game developer legend John Carmack is leaving Meta, slamming the company in a damning memo that is sure to make waves.

    John Carmack joined Oculus in 2013 and served as CTO until 2019 when he stepped down to focus on research and development. He joined Meta when it purchased Oculus but is now departing that company with harsh words regarding its management.

    According to Business Insider, Carmack posted a memo to the company’s internal Workplace forum, castigating Meta for its mismanagement.

    “We have a ridiculous amount of people and resources, but we constantly self-sabotage and squander effort,” Carmack wrote. “There is no way to sugar coat this; I think our organization is operating at half the effectiveness that would make me happy.”

    “I have never been able to kill stupid things before they cause damage, or set a direction and have a team actually stick to it,” he added.

    Meta, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, has already been facing growing criticism over its heavy focus on the metaverse. One major Meta investor has publicly called on the company to scale back its metaverse investment, saying it has lost its focus and “has drifted into the land of excess.”

    Similarly, the Oculus founder likened Zuckerberg’s metaverse obsession to a “project car,” one’s that’s “not good” at this stage.

    Even Meta’s own employees are saying that “the Metaverse will be our slow death,” and that “Mark Zuckerberg will single-handedly kill a company with the meta-verse.”

    Carmack’s departure and scathing condemnation of the company could well serve as a rallying cry for more critics and put increased pressure on Zuckerberg and company to deliver the goods or move on.

    Here’s Carmack’s memo in its entirety, courtesy of Insider:

    This is the end of my decade in VR. I have mixed feelings.

    Quest 2 is almost exactly what I wanted to see from the beginning – mobile hardware, inside out tracking, optional PC streaming, 4k (ish) screen, cost effective. Despite all the complaints I have about our software, millions of people are still getting value out of it. We have a good product. It is successful, and successful products make the world a better place. It all could have happened a bit faster and been going better if different decisions had been made, but we built something pretty close to The Right Thing.

    The issue is our efficiency.

    Some will ask why I care how the progress is happening, as long as it is happening?

    If I am trying to sway others, I would say that an org that has only known inefficiency is ill prepared for the inevitable competition and/or belt tightening, but really, it is the more personal pain of seeing a 5% GPU utilization number in production. I am offended by it.

    [edit: I was being overly poetic here, as several people have missed the intention. As a systems optimization person, I care deeply about efficiency. When you work hard at optimization for most of your life, seeing something that is grossly inefficient hurts your soul. I was likening observing our organization’s performance to seeing a tragically low number on a profiling tool.]

    We have a ridiculous amount of people and resources, but we constantly self-sabotage and squander effort. There is no way to sugar coat this; I think out organization is operating at half the effectiveness that would make me happy. Some may scoff and contend we are doing just fine, but others will laugh and say “Half? Ha! I’m at quarter efficiency!”

    It has been a struggle for me. I have a voice at the highest levels here, so it feels like I should be able to move things, but I’m evidently ot persuasive enough. A good Fraction of the things I complain about eventually turn my way after a year or two passes and evidence piles up, but I have never been able to kill stupid things before they cause damage, or set a direction and have a team actually stick to it. I think my influence at the margins has been positive, but it has never been a prime mover.

    This was admittedly self-inflicted – I could have moved to Menlo Park after the Oculus acquisition and tried to wage battles with generations of leadership, but I was busy programming, and I assumed I would hate it, be bad at it, and probably lose anyway.

    Enough complaining. I wearied of the fight and have my own startup to run, but the fight is still winnable! VR can bring value to most of the people in the world, and no company is better positioned to do it than Meta. Maybe it is actually possible to get there by just plowing ahead with current practices, but there is plenty of room for improvement.

    Make better decisions and fill your products with “Give a Damn!”

  • Meta Employees: ‘Zuckerberg Will Single-Handedly Kill’ the Company

    Meta Employees: ‘Zuckerberg Will Single-Handedly Kill’ the Company

    Meta employees are speaking up about CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse obsession, saying he will kill the company.

    It’s no secret that Zuckerberg is obsessed with the metaverse. According to a new report by Business Insider, Meta employees are pushing back against Zuckerberg’s obsession, saying the CEO will lead the company into irrelevance and ultimately kill it.

    “The Metaverse will be our slow death,” one user, identifying as a senior software developer, posted on the anonymous forum Blind. “Mark Zuckerberg will single-handedly kill a company with the meta-verse.” 

    Another poster took issue with Zuckerberg’s control, saying his “gut feeling” overrides everything else.

    Read more: Major Meta Investor Urges Company to Scale Back Metaverse Investments

    “Poor leadership is on track to sink this ship,” wrote the individual, who identified as a senior technical program manager. Their listed “cons” included: “No accountability at and above Director level. VPs and Directors are here to just milk the company without adding any value.”

    “I thought it was a data-driven company but actually it is one man’s gut feeling and emotions-driven,” they added. “Nobody can overwrite his decision.”

    Another employee, who identified as an engineer, was overall complimentary of the company but still said, “Zuck is leading this company in the wrong direction.”

    The internal angst is understandable, given Meta’s current situation. The company recently laid off 11,000 employees, the biggest lay-off in its history and the biggest in 2022. Some employees blamed the lay-offs on the company’s investment in the metaverse at a time when its core business is taking a major hit.

    Zuckerberg has committed to investing a whopping $10 to $15 billion per year for ten years in an effort to make the metaverse a reality. So far, the results have been less than impressive, with a major investor calling for the company to scale back and Meta even looking to Microsoft to help it make the metaverse more interesting and useful.

  • Meta Axes 11,000 Employees, the Biggest Tech Layoff in 2022

    Meta Axes 11,000 Employees, the Biggest Tech Layoff in 2022

    Meta has followed through on reported layoff plans, axing 11,000 employees and earning the distinction of conducting the biggest tech layoff in 2022.

    Meta is in trouble, with the company pumping billions into the metaverse at a time when its “core business hit a wall last fall.” Reports surfaced earlier this week that the company would conduct mass layoffs, rather than cut metaverse investments, and the company has done just that.

    In a letter to employees, CEO Mark Zuckerberg outlined the plans and took responsibility for the decision.

    Today I’m sharing some of the most difficult changes we’ve made in Meta’s history. I’ve decided to reduce the size of our team by about 13% and let more than 11,000 of our talented employees go. We are also taking a number of additional steps to become a leaner and more efficient company by cutting discretionary spending and extending our hiring freeze through Q1.

    I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here. I know this is tough for everyone, and I’m especially sorry to those impacted.

    As many tech companies have done, Meta is offering employees a significant severance package. Employees will receive 16 weeks of pay, plus two additional weeks for every year they were employed, with no cap. All PTO will be paid, and the company will provide health insurance for employees and their families for six months. Meta will also provide immigration support to employees with work visas.

    Read more: Oculus Founder Says Meta’s Metaverse Is Like ‘Project Car’ That’s ‘Not Good’

    Zuckerberg says the company is also engaging in other cost-saving measures, such as reducing its real estate footprint, freezing nearly all hiring for Q1, and analyzing infrastructure investments in an effort to become more efficient.

    Interestingly, the word “metaverse” was only referenced once in the entire, rather lengthy, letter:

    In this new environment, we need to become more capital efficient. We’ve shifted more of our resources onto a smaller number of high priority growth areas — like our AI discovery engine, our ads and business platforms, and our long-term vision for the metaverse. We’ve cut costs across our business, including scaling back budgets, reducing perks, and shrinking our real estate footprint. We’re restructuring teams to increase our efficiency. But these measures alone won’t bring our expenses in line with our revenue growth, so I’ve also made the hard decision to let people go.

    Brad Gerstner, Altimeter Capital CEO, has been one of Mata’s most outspoken critics, despite being a major investor. He called attention to Meta’s plans to invest at least $100 billion in the metaverse over a ten-year period, saying it was “super-sized and terrifying, even by Silicon Valley standards.”

    Given that many employees are losing their jobs in no small part because of Zuckerberg’s obsession with the metaverse, it’s probably a good idea he only mentioned it once in his letter.

  • Oculus Founder Says Meta’s Metaverse Is Like ‘Project Car’ That’s ‘Not Good’

    Oculus Founder Says Meta’s Metaverse Is Like ‘Project Car’ That’s ‘Not Good’

    Oculus founder Palmer Luckey is the latest to slam Meta’s metaverse, saying it’s “not good.”

    Meta is investing billions to build out its vision of the metaverse, but the response has been tepid at best. Everyone from Mark Cuban to major Meta investors are not sold on the company’s vision or the amount of money it is taking to create it.

    According to Business Insider, Luckey has likewise spoken critically of Meta’s efforts, saying they are largely driven by Mark Zuckerberg’s obsession with virtual reality.

    Read more: Major Meta Investor Urges Company to Scale Back Metaverse Investments

    “Mark Zuckerberg is the number one virtual reality fan in the world,” Luckey said. “He’s put in more money and time to it than anyone ever in history.”

    Luckey went on to describe the metaverse as a “project car,” something an owner sinks untold money into in the hopes it will one day be valuable. In the interim, though, Luckey says the metaverse is not very good.

    “It is terrible today, but it could be amazing in the future,” he said. “Zuckerberg will put the money in to do it. They’re in the best position of anyone to win in the long run.

    “You hack at it and maybe no one else sees the value,” Luckey continued. “Will they stumble? Yeah sure. Will they waste money? Will they add things to their project car that they later hack off? Yes.”

    With some already calling for Meta to cut back on its investment in the metaverse, only time will tell how patient the company’s investors are for what is increasingly looking like a financial black hole.

  • Major Meta Investor Urges Company to Scale Back Metaverse Investments

    Major Meta Investor Urges Company to Scale Back Metaverse Investments

    Brad Gerstner, Altimeter Capital CEO, has written an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg urging him to reign in spending.

    Meta has been heavily investing in the metaverse, driven by Zuckerberg’s near-obsession with his vision of what the metaverse should be. Unfortunately for Zuckerberg & Company, the metaverse is not exactly a raging success, opening the company to criticism.

    Gerstner is leveling some of that criticism at Zuckerberg & Company. After pointing out that Meta’s “core business hit a wall last fall,” and pointing out the importance of focusing its efforts on AI, Gerstner urged the CEO to scale back metaverse investments:

    “The company has announced investments of $10–15B per year into a metaverse project that largely includes AR / VR / immersive 3D / Horizon World and that it may take 10 years to yield results,” Gerstner writes. “An estimated $100B+ investment in an unknown future is super-sized and terrifying, even by Silicon Valley standards.”

    Gerstner then compares Meta’s investment in the metaverse with Amazon’s investment to create AWS:

    By any normal company or start up standard, $5 B per year would seem like an extraordinary amount,” Gerstner continues. “I have been told that Amazon spent far less in total to build AWS. As such, we think Meta company should cap its metaverse investments to no more than $5B per year with more discrete targets and measures of success, as opposed to today’s much more ambitious and open-ended strategy. We have little doubt investors and others would happily support scaling up these investments as the ROI becomes more tangible — even if still long-term.”

    Gerstner also pointed out Meta’s explosive headcount growth, a whopping 3x in the past four years, bringing the company from 25,000 to 85,000 employees. Gerstner urges Zuckerberg to cut employee-related costs by 20% by the start of 2023.

    Ultimately, Gerstner believes Meta has simply become too big and too unfocused for its own good.

    “Meta has drifted into the land of excess — too many people, too many ideas, too little urgency,” he adds. “This lack of focus and fitness is obscured when growth is easy but deadly when growth slows and technology changes.”

  • Mark Zuckerberg Takes Aim at Apple’s iMessage

    Mark Zuckerberg Takes Aim at Apple’s iMessage

    Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has weighed in on the green vs blue bubble debate, touting WhatsApp as a superior option.

    Apple has been under increased pressure over its iMessage platform and its lack of interoperability with Android. In a Facebook post, Zuckerberg highlighted the benefits WhatsApp provides, including similar features as iMessage:

    WhatsApp is far more private and secure than iMessage, with end-to-end encryption that works across both iPhones and Android, including group chats. With WhatsApp you can also set all new chats to disappear with the tap of a button. And last year we introduced end-to-end encrypted backups too. All of which iMessage still doesn’t have.

    While iMessage provides a host of features, such as encryption, read receipts, file transfer, group management, and more when texting between Apple devices, it defaults to basic SMS when texting with Android. Google has repeatedly asked Apple to implement RCS for cross-platform texting since RCS is the successor to SMS and provides the same features as iMessage. Despite the pressure, Apple has resisted pressure to implement RCS, with CEO Tim Cook making it clear he’d rather people just buy iPhones than worry about iOS/Android compatibility.

    While Zuckerberg may want to position WhatsApp as an alternative to iMessage and a way to overcome compatibility issues, our recommendation is to use Signal instead. Signal offers many of the same features as both iMessage and WhatsApp and likewise provides a way to overcome iOS/Android compatibility issues. Unlike WhatsApp, however, Signal is run by a non-profit and is considered one of the most secure ways of communicating, and is used by the EU Commission, US Senate, and some US military units.

  • One-Click Call Links Coming to WhatsApp, Along With 32-Person Video Calls

    One-Click Call Links Coming to WhatsApp, Along With 32-Person Video Calls

    WhatsApp calls are about to become far more convenient for users, with the company rolling out one-click links.

    Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the news, along with plans for 32-person video calling, in a Facebook post:

    We’re rolling out call links on WhatsApp starting this week so you can share a link to start a call with a single tap. We’re also testing secure encrypted video calling for up to 32 people. More coming soon.

    Zuckerberg didn’t elaborate or provide any additional information, but both features will be a welcome upgrade for users.

  • Meta Will Charge Metaverse Content Creators a Nearly 50% Commission

    Meta Will Charge Metaverse Content Creators a Nearly 50% Commission

    Apple make receive the lion’s share of flak for charing a 30% commission for its App Store, but Meta is set to dwarf that for metaverse content creators.

    CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in a Facebook post that the company was looking at ways to help content creators monetize their involvement in the metaverse.

    We’re testing two new ways for creators to make money building for Horizon in the metaverse. First is in-world purchases, so creators can sell virtual items in their worlds and offer paid access to parts of the world. Second is a creator bonus program, where creators are paid for building worlds people want to explore. We’re starting these programs small and will scale over time. Here’s a video in Horizon with some creators discussing these tools and what the metaverse economy might look like.

    Unfortunately for content creators, according to Reuters, Meta plans on taking a hefty 47.5% commission. The company will charge a “30% hardware platform fee,” as well as “a further 17.5% cut as its Horizon platform fees.”

    With those hefty fees, it’s unclear how many content creators will be onboard with Meta’s plans.

  • Meta Taps Qualcomm to Manufacture Its VR Chips

    Meta Taps Qualcomm to Manufacture Its VR Chips

    Qualcomm has scored a major contract, with Meta tapping the firm to create its virtual reality (VR) chips.

    Meta is going all-in on the metaverse, running TV ads and working to convince customers and companies that they should buy into its vision of what the metaverse should be. In order to take advantage of the metaverse, however, people still need headsets and equipment — equipment which will be powered by custom chips Qualcomm will be making for the social media giant.

    The two companies have “announced a multi-year agreement to collaborate on a new era of spatial computing powered by Snapdragon extended reality (XR) platforms and technologies for the Meta Quest platform.”

    The new agreement builds on a seven-year history of collaboration between the two companies.

    “By partnering with Meta, we are bringing together two of the world’s metaverse leaders to revolutionize the future of computing for billions of people in the coming years,” said Cristiano Amon, president and chief executive officer, Qualcomm Incorporated. “Building off our joint leadership in XR, this agreement will allow our companies to deliver best-in-class devices and experiences to transform how we work, play, learn, create and connect in a fully realized metaverse.”

    “We’re working with Qualcomm Technologies on customized virtual reality chipsets — powered by Snapdragon XR platforms and technology — for our future roadmap of Quest products,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO, Meta. “As we continue to build more advanced capabilities and experiences for virtual and augmented reality, it has become more important to build specialized technologies to power our future VR headsets and other devices. Unlike mobile phones, building virtual reality brings novel, multi-dimensional challenges in spatial computing, cost, and form factor. These chipsets will help us keep pushing virtual reality to its limits and deliver awesome experiences.”

  • Meta Executive: Poor-Performing Employees ‘Are Failing This Company’

    Meta Executive: Poor-Performing Employees ‘Are Failing This Company’

    Meta appears to be cracking down on poor-performing employees, with a senior executive telling managers to “move to exit” such employees.

    Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently warned we are facing what “might be one of the worst downturns that we’ve seen in recent history.” As part of that warning, he made it clear he wanted poor performers to leave the company, saying, “realistically, there are probably a bunch of people at the company who shouldn’t be here.”

    It would seem executives are taking up Zuckerberg’s call for action, according to The Information. The outlet viewed a memo by Maher Saba, Vice President of Remote Presence and Engineering, wherein he directed managers to start exiting employees that aren’t making the cut.

    “If a direct report is coasting or a low performer, they are not who we need; they are failing this company,” he said. “As a manager, you cannot allow someone to be net neutral or negative for Meta.”

    The news is unsurprising, given the challenges facing the tech industry and the economy in general.

  • Mark Zuckerberg: We’re Facing ‘One of the Worst Downturns That We’ve Seen’

    Mark Zuckerberg: We’re Facing ‘One of the Worst Downturns That We’ve Seen’

    Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is joining the chorus of business leaders warning of a major recession on the horizon.

    Banks, CEOS, and business leaders have begun warning that the US is headed for a recession. Zuckerberg is the latest to express concern, voicing one of the more dire warnings.

    “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 in a weekly employee Q&A session, audio of which was heard by Reuters.

    As a result of the expected downturn, Meta has reduced its hiring goal for 2022 from 10,000 engineers to 6,000-7,000.

    Zuckerberg also indicated his hope that individuals who weren’t making the cut will end up leaving the company.

    “Realistically, there are probably a bunch of people at the company who shouldn’t be here,” Zuckerberg said.

    “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,” he said.

  • End of an Era as Meta’s Sheryl Sandberg Resigns as COO

    End of an Era as Meta’s Sheryl Sandberg Resigns as COO

    After serving as chief operating officer for 14 years, Meta’s Sheryl Sandberg is stepping down to focus on her “foundation and philanthropic work.”

    Sandberg joined Meta (then Facebook) 14 years ago and helped turn it into the advertising and social media behemoth it is today. During that time, Sandberg was Mark Zuckerberg’s right hand, supporting his vision of what he wanted the company to become.

    “Sitting by Mark’s side for these 14 years has been the honor and privilege of a lifetime,” Sandberg wrote in the post outlining her departure. “Mark is a true visionary and a caring leader. He sometimes says that we grew up together, and we have.”

    In a reply to her post, Zuckerberg had equally high praise for Sandberg’s accomplishments and her role in making the company what it is.

    “The end of an era. In the 14 years we’ve worked together, you’ve architected our ads business, hired great people, forged our management culture, and taught me how to run a company,” wrote Zuckerberg. “I’m going to miss working alongside you every day, but grateful to have you as a lifelong friend. Thank you for all you’ve done for me and my family, for our company, and for millions of people around the world. You’re a superstar.”

    According to Bloomberg, Sandberg will remain on Meta’s board. The company also made it clear that her departure from the role of COO has nothing to do with the investigation into whether she improperly used her position to torpedo news stories about her then-boyfriend, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick.

  • DC Attorney General Suing Mark Zuckerberg Over Cambridge Analytica

    DC Attorney General Suing Mark Zuckerberg Over Cambridge Analytica

    Washington D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine is suing Mark Zuckerberg over the Cambridge Analytica scandal in an effort to hold the CEO personally liable.

    Cambridge Analytica improperly acquired the data of tens of millions of Facebook users, resulting in one of the biggest scandals in the company’s history. The fallout has continued to haunt Facebook, but AG Racine is wanting to make sure Zuckerberg pays for the scandal personally.

    “Since filing our landmark lawsuit against Facebook, my office has fought tooth and nail against the company’s characteristic efforts to resist producing documents and otherwise thwart our suit. We continue to persist and have followed the evidence right to Mr. Zuckerberg,” said AG Racine.

    In particular, AG Racine makes the case that Zuckerberg was personally involved in the policies and decisions that opened the door for the Cambridge Analytica debacle.

    “The evidence shows Mr. Zuckerberg was personally involved in Facebook’s failure to protect the privacy and data of its users leading directly to the Cambridge Analytica incident,” AG Racine added. “This unprecedented security breach exposed tens of millions of Americans’ personal information, and Mr. Zuckerberg’s policies enabled a multi-year effort to mislead users about the extent of Facebook’s wrongful conduct. This lawsuit is not only warranted, but necessary, and sends a message that corporate leaders, including CEOs, will be held accountable for their actions.”

    Should this lawsuit move forward and gain traction, it could be the beginning of a very difficult time for Zuckerberg.

  • Instagram Joining the NFT Craze

    Instagram Joining the NFT Craze

    Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed the company’s plans to bring NFTs to Instagram, a move that is sure to draw praise and criticism.

    NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are blockchain-based digital assets that can be created, bought, sold, and held. Some have already fetched millions of dollars, and led to many different companies and platforms looking for ways to cash in.

    According to Engadget, Zuckerberg has said NFTs are coming to Instagram, although he’s still a little fuzzy on some of the details.

    “We’re working on bringing NFTs to Instagram in the near term,” he said, without going into too many details. “I’m not ready to kind of announce exactly what that’s going to be today. But over the next several months, the ability to bring some of your NFT

    Given Instagram’s popularity and Meta’s backing, it’s a safe bet the social media app could quickly become one of the most popular NFT destinations.

  • Internet Speeds Will Need a Major Boost for the Metaverse to Be a Reality

    Internet Speeds Will Need a Major Boost for the Metaverse to Be a Reality

    The metaverse — the convergence of virtual, augmented, and in-person reality — may be all the rage, but it needs faster internet speeds to succeed.

    Virtually every major tech company, including Apple, Google, Meta, and Microsoft are racing to stake their claim in the metaverse. Even traditional companies are looking for ways to cash in, with JPMorgan opening a location in the metaverse.

    According to CNBC, however, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says “creating a true sense of presence in virtual worlds delivered to smart glasses and VR headsets will require massive advances in connectivity.”

    Similarly, Dan Rabinovitsj, VP of connectivity at Meta told CNBC that connectivity has been the bottleneck slowing down the development of the metaverse.

    “If you really look at the pace of innovation in the telecom world, compared to other markets, it’s been harder to go faster in this space,” Rabinovitsj said. “One of the things that we’ve tried to change is that trajectory of innovation.”

    Meta’s comments echo ones from Intel, in which that company’s executive identified computation power as another major bottleneck that needs to be addressed before the metaverse can truly thrive.

  • Peter Thiel Retiring From Meta’s Board

    Peter Thiel Retiring From Meta’s Board

    Peter Thiel is retiring from Meta’s board of directors, marking the end of a chapter for one of the company’s earliest investors.

    Peter Thiel has a storied history as an investor, backing some of the tech industry’s greatest success stories. He was the first outside investor in Facebook, taking a roughly 10% stake for $500,000 — a stake which brought him more than $1 billion less than a decade later.

    Meta has announced that Thiel will not seek reelection at the company’s 2022 Annual Shareholder Meeting in May, bringing his 17 years on the board to an end.

    “Peter has been a valuable member of our board and I’m deeply grateful for everything he has done for our company — from believing in us when few others would, to teaching me so many lessons about business, economics, and the world,” Mark Zuckerberg, Meta founder and CEO, said. “Peter is truly an original thinker who you can bring your hardest problems and get unique suggestions. He has served on our board for almost two decades, and we’ve always known that at some point he would devote his time to other interests. I’m grateful he’s served on our board for as long as he has, and I wish him the best in his journey ahead.”

    Meanwhile, Bloomberg is reporting that Thiel is stepping down in an effort to distance his pro-Trump political ambitions from Meta, given that his support of Trump has caused problems for the company in the past.