Facebook parent company Meta slashes hiring plans by 30% amid 'serious' signs of economic turmoil

Facebook parent company Meta this week revealed its intent to drastically slash intended hiring rates amid growing concerns of significant economic turmoil just on the horizon. 

Company CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees during a leaked Q&A session that the company had altered its plans to hire up to 10,000 engineers in 2022, instead downgrading that target to as little as 6,000.

The U.S. economy is facing "one of the worst downturns that we’ve seen in recent history," Zuckerberg told workers on the call.

The Facebook founder likewise indicated on the call that he felt the company might be too bloated at the personnel level. 

“Realistically, there are probably a bunch of people at the company who shouldn’t be here,” he told workers, claiming “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."

In a leaked internal memo within the company, meanwhile, CPO Chris Cox argued that the economy is "in serious times here and the headwinds are fierce."

"We need to execute flawlessly in an environment of slower growth, where teams should not expect vast influxes of new engineers and budgets,” Cox said, according to Reuters.