Meta Is Struggling to Grow for the First Time in the Company's History. Here's What That Means for Its Future.

It's been a rough year for tech companies, including Mark Zuckerberg's Meta Platforms, Inc., formerly Facebook, Inc.

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The company is experiencing a slowdown in its previously rapid growth for the first time since its 2004 founding. On Thursday, Zuckerberg said that Meta will freeze hiring and restructure some teams to cut expenses and readjust priorities, Bloomberg reported.

Related: Meta Imposes Strict New Policy for Restructuring Workers

Zuckerberg announced the freeze during a weekly Q&A with employees, noting that Meta would be "somewhat smaller" by the end of 2023. "For the first 18 years of the company, we basically grew quickly basically every year, and then more recently our revenue has been flat to slightly down for the first time," he said.

In a seeming reversal of outlooks in 2020 and 2021, tech companies like Robinhood and Coinbase that couldn't hire fast enough are slashing jobs, while airlines and hospitality companies struggle to bulk up their staff, per CNBC.

Meta in particular has faced additional challenges recently, per Bloomberg. Apple introduced privacy restrictions on tracking iPhone users, which has hurt its advertising business. TikTok continues to draw younger users away from Instagram, and Zuckerberg's metaverse endeavor is an expensive one.

Related: Meta Rolls Out New Feature for People Who Want to Make Money in the Metaverse

In its first-quarter earnings call, Meta revealed that its annual expenses would be approximately $3 billion lower than predicted initially — an estimate that had soared as high as $95 billion.

Meta, Inc. is down 60% year over year.