DARK DAYS AHEAD?

Facebook Suffers First Quarterly Revenue Decline in a Decade

Meta reported a 0.88 percent decline in its second quarter revenue on Wednesday, adding that it would reduce its budget for the year and slow hiring.

Meta, Facebook’s parent company, has reported a 0.88 percent decline in its revenue for the second quarter compared to last year, the company announced Wednesday. This is the first time in a decade that Meta has experienced a decrease in revenue, The Washington Post reports, demonstrating the competitive environment Facebook faces among newer social media platforms. The company, which still earned $28.8 billion in the second quarter of 2022, has said it will decrease spending this year and slow hiring to help offset the lost revenue. The company also said it expects a decline in advertiser interest because of economic concerns. “This outlook reflects a continuation of the weak advertising demand environment we experienced throughout the second quarter, which we believe is being driven by broader macroeconomic uncertainty,” Meta said in a statement. Meta’s stock price also halved this year after Apple implemented new privacy rules to better protect users’ data.