Meta 由於營收不佳，今年將限制新員工的僱用

據 CNBC 和 Bloomberg 的報導，由於營收狀況不佳，Facebook 母公司 Meta 將減緩，甚至完全停止中層和資深員工的僱用。由於過去幾週 Meta 已經基本上暫停了基層員工的僱用，這意味著 Meta 等於已經完全限制了所有新員工的僱用。…

Meta will limit hiring this year due to slowing revenue growth

Meta is limiting its intake of new employees as part of its efforts to cut costs due to weak revenue forecasts, according to CNBC and Bloomberg. Facebook’s parent company is slowing the pace or pausing hiring for most mid-to-senior level positions altogether. It has started putting recruitment on hold, the sources said, after holding off on hiring new entry-level engineers over the past weeks. 

Facebook’s latest quarterly earnings results were better than expected, and its daily active users even bounced back a bit from last quarter. However, the company also expects a revenue drop next quarter in part because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Company CFO David Wehner said during the earnings call that Meta “experienced a further deceleration in growth following the start of the Ukraine war due to the loss of revenue in Russia as well as a reduction in advertising demand both within Europe and outside the region.” 

In addition, Facebook expects to lose $10 billion in revenue due to the changes in Apple’s privacy settings on iOS. Apple introduced a new feature earlier this year that limits advertisers’ access to the unique IDFA code associated with users’ devices. That identifier is what gives companies a way to link a user to their Facebook data and show them targeted ads. Facebook even rolled out a prompt asking users to allow the company to track their activity across websites and apps before the change was implemented in hopes to curb its effects on the company’s business.

A Meta spokesperson told the publications:

“We regularly re-evaluate our talent pipeline according to our business needs and in light of the expense guidance given for this earnings period, we are slowing its growth accordingly. However, we will continue to grow our workforce to ensure we focus on long-term impact.”

Insider previously reported on leaked internal memos, wherein Wehner said that the hiring freeze will last the rest of the year. It will affect almost every team across the company, which won’t be recruiting “engineers, managers and even some director level talent” throughout 2022.

NYC targets CEO Bobby Kotick in latest Activision Blizzard lawsuit

Activision Blizzard has been hit with another lawsuit, this time from New York City officials. The suit, which was first obtained by Axios, takes aim at CEO Bobby Kotick. It accuses him of being “unfit” to negotiate his company’s pending sale to Microsoft, citing his “personal responsibility and liability for Activision’s broken workplace.”

The suit was filed by the New York City Employees’ Retirement System and pension funds that represent police, teachers and firefighters. The plaintiffs, who own stock in Activision Blizzard, argue that the Microsoft deal allows “Kotick and his fellow directors a means to escape liability for their egregious breaches of fiduciary duty.”

Since last July, Activision Blizzard has been the target of multiple lawsuits. It has been accused of fostering a “frat boy” culture and some have made allegations of workplace harassment and discrimination. In March, a wrongful death suit was filed against the company. Activision Blizzard also said in a filing yesterday that it’s cooperating with a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation on “disclosures on employment matters and related issues.”

In November, The Wall Street Journal reported that Kotick was aware of many of the alleged instances of harassment and that he may have protected employees who were accused of misconduct. That report, and the alleged workplace problems, are said to have prompted the buyout. The companies announced the sale in January.

New York City claims the $68.7 billion Microsoft deal, which was valued at $95 per share, undervalues a company that was trading at close to that price before the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing sued it last summer and started a wave of litigation. The NYC plaintiffs are demanding access to various company documents, including those related to the pending takeover and details on the five other possible buyers that Activision mentioned in filings on sale talks.

Activision Blizzard shareholders last week overwhelmingly approved the Microsoft deal. The companies hope to close the merger by the end of June 2023, though they require approval from regulators in the US, UK, China, the European Union and some other markets. Should the sale go through, Kotick stands to make as much as $520 million.

Uber is bouncing back from the pandemic faster than Lyft

Uber had a successful first quarter of 2022 by some measures, as it more than doubled its revenue year-over-year to $6.85 billion. Increased demand for rides following the Omicron surge played a role, as did higher ride prices due to a shortage of drivers.

The company reported that riders took 1.71 billion trips last quarter, an increase of 18 percent from the first three months of 2021. Gross bookings (the total amount Uber receives from customers) for rides increased by 58 percent year over year to $10.7 billion. Delivery gross bookings rose by 12 percent to $13.9 billion. Uber’s revenue from rides was $2.52 billion. From deliveries, it earned $2.51 billion in revenue.

However, Uber’s net loss increased from $108 million in Q1 2021 to $5.93 billion last quarter. That’s largely due to its equity investments in Didi, Grab Holdings and Aurora Innovation. Still, Uber believes it will be cash-flow positive on a full-year basis for 2022.

Growth is expected to continue this quarter. Uber claims the value of rides booked in April surpassed 2019 levels, for one thing. The company also noted that rider wait times and surge trips were at their best levels for a year.

Uber says that many drivers have opted to move over to Eats deliveries. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the company won’t have to make “significant incremental incentive investments” to keep drivers on the platform and persuade new and lapsed drivers to get behind the wheel. The same can’t be said for rival Lyft.

That company expects it will need to spend more to entice drivers to return or join its platform. It’s taking longer than expected for its driver base to return to pre-pandemic levels, Lyft president John Zimmer told Reuters. Uber has a leg up on Lyft in this regard, since its drivers can choose to deliver food and other items instead of ferrying passengers around. However, Lyft didn’t provide more details of how much it will spend on driver incentives.

Lyft earned revenue of $875.6 million for the first quarter, a year-over-year increase of 44 percent. It had a net loss of $196.9 million, down significantly from the $427.3 million net loss it posted a year earlier. Its active number of riders rose to 17.8 million from 13.5 million in Q1 2021.

Rivian will receive up to $1.5 billion in state incentives to build Georgia production facility

Georgia will provide Rivian with up to $1.5 billion in local incentives and tax credits in support of the automaker’s plan to build a new manufacturing plant outside of Atlanta. When Rivian announced late last year it would build its second production …

Embracer is buying Tomb Raider, Deus Ex and three Square Enix game studios

Swedish game company Embracer Group has just made a blockbuster deal to acquire Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal and Square Enix Montréal for what seems like a bargain $300 million price, the company confirmed in a press release. The deal includes a “catalogue of IPs including Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, Legacy of Kain and more than 50 back-catalogue games from Square Enix Holdings,” it wrote. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval. 

Those studios represent around 1,100 employees across eight global locations, the company noted. When the deal is finalized, Embracer will have 14,000 employees, 10,000 game developers and 124 internal studios. It has more than 230 games in development, with 30 of those being AAA titles. “This acquisition will bring additional scale to Embracer’s current AAA segment, and Embracer will have one of the largest pipelines of PC/Console games content across the industry, across all genres,” it said. 

As part of the deal, Eidos Montreal plans to revive Deus Ex and use new Unreal Engine 5 technology, the studio said during the acquisition conference call, as Shack News reported. “At this time, we are crazy people who have decided to revive the Deus Ex IP as our first game,” Eidos Montreal Studio Head David Anfossi said. “A new team, a very complex production, a new tech, and a new studio, an easy challenge.” Anfossi noted that Deus Ex console sales have exceeded 12 million units. 

Last month, Crystal Dynamics announced that it was developing a new Tomb Raider game, also based on Unreal Engine 5, with plans to “push the envelope of fidelity.” The studio also developed Marvel’s Avengers, among other titles. Eidos Montréal created Thief 4, Deus Ex Human Revolution, Shadow of the Tomb Raider and more, and is “working on a host of AAA projects including both new releases from beloved franchises and original IP,” according to the Embracer press release. 

As we detailed in a feature last year, Embracer is perhaps “the biggest games publisher you’ve never heard of,” founded by Swedish entrepreneur Lars Wingefors. It made a string of acquisitions over the last couple of years, most significantly purchasing Saber Interactive for $525 million and Gearbox Software for $1.3 billion.

It now own quite a list of iconic franchises, particularly in the classic category. On top of the newly acquired IP, it controls Saints Row, Goat Simulator, Dead Island, Metro, TimeSplitters, Borderlands, Darksiders, MX vs ATV, Kingdoms of Amalur, Satisfactory, Wreckfest, Insurgency and World War Z. For some of those like TimeSplitters, the company has promised new titles from the original developers.

Amazon 的營收成長降至 20 年來的低點

2022 年第一季 Amazon 錄得營收 1,164 億美元，相較於去年同期還是有著 7% 的成長，但這已經是自 2001 年以來營收成長最少的一個季度，和去年此時的 44% 增長更是不可同日而語。不僅如此，本季度 Amazon 還淨損了 38 億美元，是自 2015 年以來首度淨損。…