Facebook's Parent Company to Conduct Further Mass Layoffs: What Have Its Profits Been Over the Last Six Years?

Facebook's parent company, Meta Platforms Inc., is reportedly planning another round of mass layoffs. This comes after the tech giant laid off 11,000 employees, or 13% of its workforce, in November 2022.

“Facebook's parent company is delaying the finalization of budgets for several teams as it prepares for a new round of layoffs,” two Meta employees told the Financial Times, as quoted by Katadata from Reuters on Sunday (February 12).

According to these employees, Meta has not yet announced or clarified its future budget or employee numbers.

Meta Platforms, which oversees major social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Oculus, appears to be struggling. How has the startup's net profit performed over the past six years?

Companies Market Cap reveals the company's profit journey since its founding by Mark Zuckerberg. In 2017, its profit reached US$20.59 billion. This increased to US$25.37 billion in 2018.

Unfortunately, in 2019, the company experienced a decline in profit, reaching US$24.83 billion. In 2020, Facebook et al. saw a significant increase, contributing a profit of US$32.67 billion. In 2021, Meta continued its profit growth, reaching US$46.75 billion.

Profit plummeted in 2022, reaching US$28.94 billion. However, this figure is calculated over 12 months (TTM), not on a year-on-year (YoY) basis. Companies Market Cap states that the percentage decrease was approximately -38%.

Note that the reported net profit does not specify whether it is before or after tax. The following are Meta Platforms Inc.'s net profit figures from Companies Market Cap:

* 2017: US$20.59 billion
* 2018: US$25.37 billion
* 2019: US$24.83 billion
* 2020: US$32.67 billion
* 2021: US$46.75 billion
* 2022: US$28.94 billion

(See also: Facebook's Parent Company Revenue Drops 4% in Q3 2022: Is it Because of the Metaverse?)