Watching Meta Over One Year: This Was The Headline On Meta Employees One Year Ago; What Changed?

Exactly one year ago, on March 21, 2022, this was the headline: 'Facebook Parent Meta Employees Seek Greener Pastures Post Stock Meltdown.'

Then, reports claimed Meta Platforms, Inc META employees were burdened with underwater stock options and looked to exit following plunging stock prices.

As of March 2022, Meta employees with $100,000 worth of restricted stock units around its September stock peak found them worth ~$57,000.

A series of internal leaks put massive political pressure on the company fueled by the multibillion-dollar sting of privacy changes from Apple Inc AAPL and Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL Google.

Opportunists from other companies like Microsoft Corp MSFT, whose price was down 10.3% as of March 2022, could theoretically "buy the dip" by taking a job at a beaten-down company like Meta and getting more stock options at a lower price.

However, by November, things changed, and the falling stock price signaled trouble. Finally, in November 2022, Meta fired 11,000 people, or 13% of its staff, scaled back budgets, and shrunk its real estate footprint in the face of macro uncertainties.

Again on March 14, 2023, Meta disclosed plans to downsize team strength by around 10,000 people and to close about 5,000 additional open roles to make it a better technology company and improve its financial performance amid macro uncertainties.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg mentioned that his restructuring plans focused on flattening its organizational structure, dumping lower-priority projects, and reducing hiring rates.

Meta highlighted investing in building AI tools as ChatGPT adoption gains momentum worldwide. It emphasized how the last downsizing improved efficiency and reduced costs by cutting out duplicative work and helping execute its highest priorities faster.

As of March 2023, Meta reportedly slashed the price of Quest Pro to fend off competition from Apple's upcoming MR headset launch. It also remained rattled by the success of ByteDance Ltd TikTok and had forgone projects to win back lost users to the popular Chinese social media platform.

Major tech players saw huge losses in 2022, weighed by higher interest rates, high inflation, and uncertain economic conditions. Meta lost two-thirds of its value. Amazon.Com Inc AMZN also lost half its value.

Interestingly, Meta shares gained over 64% YTD, beating the broader index returns of 14.96%.

Price Action: META shares closed higher by 2.24% at $204.28 on Thursday.