Meta says rumors that Mark Zuckerberg is resigning are false

What you need to know

• Meta's communications team says Mark Zuckerberg is not leaving his role as CEO.
• The statement came after rumors circulated earlier today claiming that the Meta CEO was stepping down next year.
• Rumors had it that Zuckerberg was caving in to investor pressure amid Meta's losses from its Metaverse investments.

There's no truth to rumors that Mark Zuckerberg is resigning from Meta next year, according to the company's communications team, debunking claims that the CEO was caving in to investor pressure.

Andy Stone, Meta's communications director, has responded to a tweet claiming that Zuckerberg planned to step down next year. He dismissed the rumor as false.

Earlier today, The Leak reported that Meta's chief executive was stepping down in 2023 amid investor pressure due to Meta's immense losses from its ambitious Metaverse investments. The report cited an anonymous source who claimed to have knowledge of the plan.

The rumor comes a few weeks after Meta announced plans to cut more than 11,000 employees, a decision that Zuckerberg took full responsibility for. In conjunction with the layoffs, Meta said it would keep its hiring freeze in place until the first quarter of 2023.

Zuckerberg said the massive layoffs were part of the company's effort to cut costs following losses in recent months. In addition to cutting employees, Meta is also seeking to slash discretionary spending.

Meta was already bleeding cash since early this year due to the global economic downturn, the Ukraine war, and its immense metaverse spending. The latter was met with vehement opposition from shareholders during a post-earnings meeting with top Meta executives, according to The Financial Times. Investors were worried that Meta's losses from its Reality Labs division would snowball next year.

The social networking platform's 2022 third quarter earnings report revealed that its AR/VR losses widened in that period. Meta disclosed nearly $4 billion in losses for Reality Labs, with higher expenses anticipated next year.