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Meta is laying people off for the first time in its history
Facebook parent Meta is cutting staff for the first time in its history, according to multiple media reports.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees Thursday that the company would freeze hiring and reduce budgets for most teams, with Meta expecting to end the year with fewer employees, Bloomberg reported. As part of the shift, Meta will no longer automatically replace employees who leave, will pause internal transfers and will “manage out” low performers, according to the news service. The company also said its budget next year would be “very tight,” the Wall Street Journal reported.
Spokespeople for Meta declined to comment, but pointed to comments Zuckerberg made to investors in July.
“Our plan is to steadily reduce headcount growth over the next year,” he told investors in the company’s earnings call, adding, “Many teams are going to shrink so we can shift energy to other areas.”
Zuckerberg also noted that Meta would delay some projects until next year and said it planned to “get more done with fewer resources.”
Mid-life crisis
A number of major tech companies have laid off workers this year, including Netflix, Snap, Twilio, Taboola and Twitter, but Meta is by far the largest to do so. In recent years, the company had dramatically boosted headcount as it doubled down on content moderation. It had roughly 83,000 workers at the end of June.
The news highlights the challenges facing a company that’s gone from startup to juggernaut in a little over a decade. Amid an economic slowdown that is hitting tech and advertising particularly hard, Facebook is also trying to overhaul its business model.
Long an advertising giant, it has more recently refashioned itself as software company, with a goal to own the digital infrastructure on which people work, play and interact in the future. It’s a lofty goal — and an expensive one, with Zuckerberg estimating that ongoing shift to cost $10 billion a year for the foreseeable future.
Meta’s stock has plunged this year in the face of a series of headwinds typical of maturing companies seeking to remain on the cutting edge: fewer users, falling revenue and dramatically higher spending to build out its corner of the emerging Metaverse, which Zuckerberg believes is set to be the next stage in the evolution of the internet.
“The Street is concerned that there’s no specific message out there, no real way this company is going to generate revenue from the metaverse,” Angelo Zino, an analyst at CFRA who covers social media companies, recently told CBS MoneyWatch.
Meanwhile, Facebook’s traditional revenue stream — extremely lucrative advertising sold against hyper-specific user data — is wavering. Advertisers are spending less this year in the face of a wobbly economy, and traditional social media advertisers are facing increased competition from other offerings.
“Netflix, HBO Max, Disney+, TikTok…. There are new avenues that are available to advertisers,” Zino said. In the social media space, Meta is no longer dominant among the all-important youth demographic, which is flocking to TikTok, and Meta’s ability to target ads hasn’t recovered from Apple’s iOS changes last year, which made it hard to track users.
The departure in June of Sheryl Sandberg, the company’s respected chief operating officer and chief architect of its ad-targeting system, served to underscore the shifting ground for Meta.
To be sure, other technology companies have also fared poorly. But Meta’s share price is down 60%, more than double the decline in the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index. The decline has been steep enough to lower Zuckerberg’s net worth by $74 billion.
To be sure, Meta is still a dominant digital company with piles of money at its disposal. In its last quarter — the one so bad it sent investors running — the company pulled in $28 billion in revenue and boasted a 29% profit margin.
“They have a financial position I think most companies would be envious of,” Zino said.
The problem for Wall Street is that Meta is no longer a promising growth startup, while its core business model remains unclear. Until the company has a more persuasive story to share, investors will look elsewhere.
“Over 40% of the global economy utilizes one of their four major platforms, and there are plenty of ways they can monetize it over time. You’re going to see better days,” said Zino. “They’re just going through a lot right now, and it’s a matter of them having to weather the storm — and in many cases, weather many storms that are taking place at the same time.”
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Economic conditions have been challenging for a while. And though inflation is cooling and interest rates are poised to drop soon, many consumers are still struggling financially.
For those feeling financially strapped, personal loans can sometimes be worth exploring.
Not all personal loans are created equal, though — especially if your credits not pristine. Are you considering a personal loan with a few issues on your credit report? Here are the best options for borrowers with fair credit.
Find out how affordable the right personal loan could be now.
Best personal loans for fair credit
If you’re looking for a loan with less-than-perfect credit, here are some of the best personal loans for fair credit, broken down into five categories.
Best overall: Upstart
Online lender Upstart is our pick for best personal loan. The company offers a blend of low, fixed interest rates, fasting funding times and high loan amounts (up to $50,000), and it considers non-credit information when evaluating your application — things like education and employment.
Applying for a loan takes less than five minutes, and most borrowers can get approved instantly. Funds are then issued in 24 hours or less for many applicants. Upstart offers three- and five-year terms.
Learn more about Upstart loans here.
Best for large amounts: PenFed
PenFed is another option if you’re looking for a large loan amount. The credit union offers personal loans with limits up to $50,000 and terms of up to five years. You can use the loan for debt consolidation, home improvements, adoption, weddings and more, and there are no origination, early payoff or balance transfer fees. Funding happens as quickly as the next business day.
Learn more about your PenFed loan options here.
Best for quick approval: Prosper
Prosper’s a smart option if you’re looking to get your personal loan quickly. You can check your rate online in minutes, customize your term and monthly payment, and then receive funding in as little as one business day. Funds are direct-deposited into your bank account for immediate use. Prosper’s loan terms range from two to five years.
Best for low rates: LightStream
If snagging the lowest interest rate is your goal, look to LightStream. The lender offers the lowest potential APRs of all companies we considered, with rates starting at just 6.99% (with a 0.50% autopay discount included).
Loans can be used for home improvements, debt consolidation, car purchases or refinancing, boat/RV/aircraft purchases, K-12 education, medical costs, buying a timeshare and more. And if you’re approved, you can even receive your funds the same day.
Explore your LightStream loan options here.
Best for extended terms: SoFi
For a longer payoff time, consider SoFi. The online bank offers personal loans that range from two years to seven — much longer than the typical five years offered by most lenders.
The lender also lets you prequalify in 60 seconds, and you can get funding the same day you apply. There are no fees and interest rates are fixed so your rate and payment will never change.
Learn more about SoFi personal loans here.
The bottom line
Make sure you shop around and compare at least a few lenders before getting a personal loan. Look at rates, terms, and repayment options — and consider customer reviews and ratings, too. This will ensure you get the best possible loan for your needs and budget.
CBS News
South Carolina Supreme Court refuses to stop upcoming execution of Freddie Owens, the state’s first in 13 years
The South Carolina Supreme Court on Thursday refused to stop the execution of Freddie Owens who is set to die by lethal injection next week in the state’s first execution in 13 years.
The justices unanimously tossed out two requests from defense lawyers who said a court needed to hear new information about what they called a secret deal that kept a co-defendant off death row or from serving life in prison and about a juror who correctly surmised Owens was wearing a stun belt at his 1999 trial.
That evidence, plus an argument that Owens’ death sentence was too harsh because a jury never conclusively determined he pulled the trigger on the shot that killed a convenience store clerk, didn’t reach the “exceptional circumstances” needed to allow Owens another appeal, the justices wrote in their order.
The bar is usually high to grant new trials after death row inmates use up all their appeals. Owens’ lawyers said past attorneys scrutinized his case carefully, but this only came up in interviews as the potential of his death neared.
The decision keeps on track the planned execution of Owens on Sept. 20 at the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia.
/ AP
South Carolina’s last execution was in May 2011. The state didn’t set out to pause executions, but its supply of lethal injection drugs expired and companies refused to sell the state more if the transaction was made public.
It took a decade of wrangling in the Legislature – first adding the firing squad as a method and later passing a shield law – to get capital punishment restarted. That legislation also revived the state’s use of the electric chair.
Earlier this year, attorneys representing a group of South Carolina’s death row inmates argued before the South Carolina Supreme Court that both electrocution and the firing squad as execution methods should constitute cruel and unusual punishment.
In January, Alabama executed condemned inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith using nitrogen hypoxia, a controversial death penalty method used for the first time in the United States. Before the execution, the U.N. warned the method could “amount to torture” and violate human rights treaties.
Owens sentenced to death for woman’s 1997 murder
Owens, 46, was sentenced to death for killing convenience store clerk Irene Graves in Greenville in 1997. Co-defendant Steven Golden testified Owens shot Graves in the head because she couldn’t get the safe open.
There was surveillance video in the store, but it didn’t show the shooting clearly. Prosecutors never found the weapon used and didn’t present any scientific evidence linking Owens to the killing at his trial, although after Owens’ death sentence was overturned, prosecutors showed the man who killed the clerk was wearing a ski mask while the other man inside for the robbery had a stocking mask. They also linked the ski mask to Owens.
Golden was sentenced to 28 years in prison after pleading guilty to a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter, according to court records.
Golden testified at Owens’ trial that there was no deal to reduce his sentence. In a sworn statement signed Aug. 22, Golden said he cut a side deal with prosecutors, and Owens’ attorneys said that might have changed the minds of jurors who believed his testimony.
The state Supreme Court said in its order that wasn’t compelling enough to stop Owens’ execution, and while they believed the evidence that Owens was the clerk’s killer, even if he didn’t kill her it, wasn’t enough to stop his death.
“He was a major participant in the murder and armed robbery who showed a reckless disregard for human life by knowingly engaging in a criminal activity that carries a grave risk of death,” the justices wrote.
Owens has at least one more chance at stopping his death. Gov. Henry McMaster alone has the power to reduce Owens’ sentence to life in prison.
The governor has said he will follow longtime tradition and not announce his decision until prison officials make a call from the death chamber minutes before the execution. McMaster told reporters he hasn’t decided what to do in Owens’ case but as a former prosecutor, he respects jury verdicts and court decisions.
“When the rule of law has been followed, there really is only one answer,” McMaster said.
Earlier Thursday, opponents of the death penalty gathered outside McMaster’s office to urge him to become the first South Carolina governor since the death penalty was restarted in the U.S. in 1976 to grant clemency.
“There is always hope,” said the Rev. Hillary Taylor, Executive Director of South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. “Nobody is beyond redemption. You are more than the worst thing you have done.”
Taylor and others pointed out Owens is Black in a state where a disproportionate number of executed inmates have been Black and was 19 years old when he killed the clerk.
“No one should take a life. Not even the state of South Carolina. Only God can do that,” said the Rev. David Kennedy of the Laurens County chapter of the NAACP.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, there are 35 inmates on death row in South Carolina, and no clemencies have been granted in the state.
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