The Coronavirus pandemic, the stock market crash, and the war in Ukraine – all contribute to the worsening of the world’s current economic situation.
The pioneer that predicts even worse times lie ahead of us is the Tesla and SpaceX CEO, Elon Musk. He presented these theses more than a month ago. Still, many sounding figures such as US President Joe Biden ‘laughed at him. However, he is no longer alone.
Mark Zuckerberg Follows Elon Musk And Predicts ‘Dark Times Ahead’
Now, after more than one month, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta Platforms’ CEO (Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) joins him in his opinion.
There is a recession, there is ongoing inflation, and there is no doubt of that. However, the world’s wealthiest people are warning of getting into an even bigger economic ‘hole’ in the following months.
The monetary policy of the Federal Reserve is extremely aggressive, causing a downturn in the economy. The US is not alone in this crisis. Many central banks around the world are following these aggressive politics and as a result, feel the same downturn in economics. Fueling this is the coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing Ukraine vs. Russia war.
How this affects the world and the common citizens is by affecting consumption. Experts say that households, in general, should consider saving as much as possible, to ensure a stable near future. However, they find it difficult to cope with it. Since the pandemic and the war in Ukraine the prices worldwide for essential expenses jumped by 30-40%.
According to Meta’s CEO, “one of the worst downturns that we’ve seen in recent history” is lying not far ahead. He expresses his worry and this rather pessimistic expectation for the near future. At the recent weekly question and answers session at the headquarters of Meta he sends the first warning. The ones that will feel this crisis the most are the billionaires. They will lose the greatest amount of money for such a short period.
For that reason, Mark Zuckerberg decides to follow his fellow billionaire Elon Musk in steps. Mark decides that now is the right time to announce slow hiring and letting go of staff.
Meta has the potential to employ about 10 000 engineers per annum. However, now with the new measures, Mark reduces this to 6-7000. Even though 7000 engineers seems like a lot, this is on a global level and it is a reduction of about 30%.
“We regularly re-evaluate our talent pipeline according to our business needs. In light of the expense guidance given for this earnings period, we are slowing its growth accordingly. However, we will continue to grow our workforce to ensure we focus on long-term impact.” – they say from Meta.
Meta, as a company made revenue of about $28 million in the first quarter of 2022. It means that it has an increase of about 7% since the past quartal. All of this money is from the ‘Family of Apps’ division created in 2021. The advertisement revenue comes on top of this and is an astonishing additional $27 billion, or 6% more than last year.
