As you well know, our economy is not having one of its finer moments. After being well on the way to recovery following the brunt of the COVID pandemic, more than a few crises and poor government decisions have put us back on the road to economic disaster.
Just about everywhere you look, you can see the results. Prices for a great many things are growing exponentially, such as food and rent. Gas prices are still high, though they seem to have slowed in recent weeks. And interest rates just got higher again.
Needless to say, both individual Americans and businesses are finding themselves in some rather dire straits.
But don’t think that it’s just the smaller guys who are seeing these repercussions.
Even massive, billion-dollar companies are straining a bit more than usual.
Make Meta Platforms, for example. Once known as Facebook, the social media giant is apparently struggling to make ends meet in recent quarters, and the future doesn’t look all that much brighter. So what does this mean for the company?
Well, some layoffs, of course.
According to new reports by several media outlets, the company is doing a bit of restructuring. For example, the Wall Street Journal notes this to mean, among other things, that more than a few employees have recently been notified that they must either find themselves another position within the company or be fired within 30 days.
Yes, you read that correctly. The company is tasking certain employees to find different positions than the ones they currently hold or face termination. And all to be done in 30 days. Naturally, they’ve been put on a “30-day list,” according to the outlet.
As Meta spokesperson Tracy Clayton told WSJ, “We’ve been public about the need for our teams to shift to meet… challenges.”
The word ‘challenges’ there most likely refers to the fact that end-of-second quarter reports show the company to have lost about 50 percent of the value of their shares. And the next quarter is looking any better.
As Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently said of the company, now is a period of time in which “more intensity” is demanded while at the same time being forced to accomplish such with “fewer resources.” Naturally, he believes the company will pull through this tough economic time and come out “stronger and more disciplined” as a company.
As for the employees he’s cutting or threatening to cut, the same might not be said.
So far, the social media giant has been rather mum on the number of employees put on this 30-day list or how many positions they are currently cutting.
In any case, it appears the mighty might be falling a bit.
Sure, some of it may come from the overall dismal state of the current American economy. Then again, I have to point out that during the past several years or so, the company has been sued more and more, costing them untold thousands in legal fees and such.
As it turns out, people don’t like being told they can’t say or think what they want on social media. And they especially don’t like being censored just because someone else doesn’t like their opinions or beliefs.
Now, of course, I’m not saying that a massive company like Meta doesn’t have funds set aside for this purpose only. After all, as big as they are, it’s only inevitable. However, as I mentioned before, these are not exactly normal times. With inflation through the roof and interest rates spiking, the dollar is becoming less and less valuable.
And for companies even as big as Meta, that means budgeting and penny-pinching are a must. In fact, from market opening on Friday morning, stock market numbers showed the business down by over two percent.
Maybe if they were less worried about denying Americans their First Amendment rights, they’d have more to spend on running their company and keeping it going. But I doubt their policies on that will be changing any time soon.
