What happened
The stock of Meta Platforms (META -0.52%) was tumbling this morning after comments made by CEO Mark Zuckerberg about the economy and cutting back on hiring.
The tech stock was down by 2.8% as of 11:46 a.m. ET on Friday.
So what
Reuters reported this morning that Zuckerberg said in a weekly employee meeting that the company is expecting a significant economic slowdown and will drastically cut back on the number of people it previously expected to hire.
Image source: Getty Images.
"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 the meeting, according to Reuters.
Those aren't exactly the comments Meta investors wanted to hear this morning and, unfortunately for current employees, Zuckerberg's comments didn't get any more positive.
He also said that it's likely that there are people working at the company "who shouldn't be here" and indicated that Meta will be keeping a closer eye on employee performance.
The company is reportedly cutting back on hiring, with a previous goal of adding 10,000 new engineers being scaled back to about 6,000 to 7,000, according to Reuters.
Now what
Zuckerberg's comments at Meta's company meeting are clearly giving investors a lot to worry about this morning.
Technology investors have already been worried about a potential economic slowdown, but with Zuckerberg expecting a serious downturn, cutting hiring, keeping a closer eye on existing employee performance, and saying that "headwinds are fierce," it's no wonder some Meta shareholders are jittery today.
