#meta

Meta offloads Giphy for a loss. Image credit: Getty Images

Meta unloads Giphy to Shutterstock at a loss of more than $260m

Facebook’s parent company Meta announced the sale of Giphy after its purchase of the GIF maker was blocked by competition regulators in the UK

Cold storage in Meta data center. Image Credit: META

Meta fined record $1.3bn in EU over US data transfers

The Meta fine coincides with the fifth anniversary of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, widely seen as the world’s benchmark for privacy

WhatsApp

Say goodbye to typos: WhatsApp launches edit message feature

The edit history will not be displayed, ensuring that the original content remains private

Meta

Meta touts metaverse’s potential for job training and education

While there’s more commitment by employers in the industries to use VR, adopting the technology remains a hurdle

Meta

Meta prepares more layoffs across Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram

The move is part of a cost-cutting push that will eventually whittle away 10,000 positions at the company

Meta

Meta starts next round of layoffs with 1,500 jobs in recruiting, HR

The first wave of cuts were explained to Meta executives Thursday morning

Meta

Meta to form AI product team to keep up with chatbot competition

The company is trying to use the technology with text-like chats in Meta’s messaging apps WhatsApp and Messenger

Big tech targets bond market

Big tech targets bond market for cash to buy back sinking stocks

As an economic downturn looms, the average blue-chip company is expected to be in balance sheet repair mode

digital

Annual digital transformation spending across META region to top $74bn by 2026

Digital transformation investments in the Middle East, Türkiye and Africa are set to more than double across the 2021–2026 period

Metaverse

How virtual reality and the metaverse will change workplace in 2023

In order to get a better understanding of the mixed emotions surrounding the metaverse, Meta commissioned a study of nearly 2,000 employees and 400 business leaders around the world

Oversight Board

Meta’s Oversight Board criticises ‘shortcomings’ in protection of VIP accounts

The Oversight Board, which was conceived by and funded by Meta and is comprised of 20 journalists, academics and politicians, began assessing cases last year

Meta

Meta fined $277m for leak of half a billion users

The Irish Data Protection Commission levied the fine following a probe that found the social-media company had failed to apply strict safeguards

Amazon, Meta join ranks of tech companies slashing thousands of jobs

Amazon, Meta join ranks of tech companies slashing thousands of jobs

In recent earnings reports, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, Microsoft and others fell short of projections, sending shares plunging and shaving hundreds of billions of dollars from their market valuations

Meta

Meta to lay off more than 11,000 employees

The company has also extended its hiring freeze through Q1 of next year, with a small number of exceptions

Meta gives tepid revenue forecast as ad weakness persists

In the third quarter, Meta posted revenue of $27.7bn, slightly beating analysts’ average estimate for $27.4bn

Swimlane

Cybersecurity firm Swimlane expands into META, appoints Ashraf Sheet to head regional operations

The company’s expansion comes following a recently announced $70m growth funding round led by Activate Capital

Meta

Meta makes bond-market debut with four-part offering

Meta may sell $8bn to $10bn of debt depending on demand, with proceeds used for general corporate purposes

Amazon Meta

Even tech giants like Amazon and Meta can’t escape the slowdown

With many of the biggest tech giants poised to report earnings in the next two weeks, investors are bracing for mostly bad news

Fintechs

Why bank and tech giants are losing their experts to fintechs

Significant numbers of employees are moving from tech firms like Amazon.com and Microsoft to fintech companies

Facebook Profiles

Facebook users will be able to have up to five profiles

Additional profiles are required to adhere to Facebook’s content policies and will tie back to user’s core account

Sheryl Sandberg

Sheryl Sandberg is stepping down as Meta’s COO after 14 years

Javier Olivan, who has led the company’s growth efforts for years, will take Sandberg’s place as COO when she formally steps down in fall

Getty Images

UAE’s e& partners with Meta to drive innovation

The companies will work together on use cases that integrate with the latest Meta products and solutions

In pics: Sheikh Hamdan opens Meta’s new regional headquarters in Dubai

The new base will serve the Middle East and North Africa region

Meta

Meta announces new initiative to upskill UAE startups and SMBs

The Ministry of Economy’s Entrepreneurial Nation project intends to provide support to startups through a series of public-private partnerships

Getty Images

Pure Storage partners with Meta on AI Research SuperCluster

Meta believes AI Research SuperCluster to be among the fastest AI supercomputers when fully built out by mid-2022

Facebook

Facebook changes company name to Meta, Zuckerberg announces

The announcement was made at Facebook’s Connect conference