Meta Warns Hard Times To Come, Employees Are Asked To Be Prepared

JAKARTA - Meta Platform Inc., began to warn its employees, of "serious times" and is gearing up for a leaner second half of 2022. This description emerged from an internal memo circulated to employees this week.

The note comes from Meta's chief product officer, Chris Cox, outlining the company's priorities and challenges for its business going forward.

"I must underline that we are in serious times here and the headwinds are very strong," Cox wrote in a memo obtained by The Verge.

“We need to execute flawlessly in a slower growth environment, where the team shouldn't expect a huge influx of engineers and new budgets,” he said

According to Cox in the memo, the biggest revenue challenges come from privacy changes affecting Meta's ad business and macroeconomic pressures. Cox said monetizing Reels, their TikTok-like short-form video copy, "as soon as possible" was a top priority.

Cox also outlined six areas where he believes Facebook needs to deepen its investment. These include metaverse products; AI; message; keep pushing the reels; monetization; and meet new privacy requirements. Cox said the team had to "prioritize more ruthlessly" without the help of staff or a new budget.

Meta has notified employees that a slowdown is coming. In May, the company froze hiring on a number of teams, including teams working on shopping products and video chats.

The company's shares have also weakened over the past five months, as investors worry about slowing growth and expensive investments in the metaverse that may take years to pay off. Meta did not immediately comment in response to this news.