'Meta Shock' Mark Zuckerberg Urges Employees to "Focus on Video"

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta [Photo by Reuters]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Meta's stock price plunged more than 20% on the 3rd (local time) due to disappointing earnings announcements, prompting Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to urge employees to focus on video products.

According to Bloomberg News, citing anonymous sources, CEO Zuckerberg said in a virtual meeting with all employees that the stock price plunge was a result of the poor outlook for the first quarter earnings this year. Zuckerberg emphasized that the social networking service (SNS) market is facing "unprecedented levels of competition" due to the rise of TikTok, a short video platform that Facebook does not own. This was a reiteration of what he told investors during the earnings announcement the previous day.

It was reported that Zuckerberg appeared with bloodshot eyes and wearing glasses in the virtual video.

To soothe employees, CEO Zuckerberg also mentioned 'carrots' such as vacations and bonuses. In response to questions about how to deal with employee burnout, he said that switching to a four-day workweek had resulted in decreased productivity, so they would encourage providing long weekends or vacations to tired employees. Bloomberg also reported, citing sources, that Meta is internally discussing plans to provide bonuses or promotions in March.

Meanwhile, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, saw its stock price plunge 26.44% compared to the previous close, marking the largest single-day drop since its listing in 2012. This is interpreted as a fallout from Meta's earnings and future outlook falling short of market expectations. As a result, the three major U.S. stock indices all closed lower. The tech-heavy Nasdaq index closed down 3.74%.