Meta Braces for First Revenue Drop in a Decade; Shopify Slashes Workforce by 10%

by Hannah Dillon on 27th Jul 2022 in News

In today's ExchangeWire news digest: Meta investors prepare for a drop in revenue as the company revamps its platforms to compete with TikTok; Shopify prepares to cut its workforce by about 10%; and contextual advertising company Seedtag amasses €250m (£211m) in funding from Advent International.

Meta imitates TikTok as it braces for revenue drop

Social media behemoth Meta is expected to see its revenue drop for the first time since the company went public in 2012. According to data from Refinitive, the Facebook-parent is set to slip by 0.4% to around USD$29bn (£24bn).

The slump comes as the company is redesigning Instagram and Facebook to imitate rival platform TikTok, algorithmically recommending short-form video content to users. The San Francisco-based firm is also currently rebuilding its advertisement system after Apple’s privacy changes stifled its access to user data.

Shopify to lay off 1,000 employees

Canadian ecommerce company Shopify is set to slash its workforce by 10%, with CEO Tobi Lükte attributing the move to a miscalculation that the ecommerce industry would maintain the growth experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Shopify previously increased its workforce from 1,900 in 2016 to around 10,000 in 2021 as a direct result of the pandemic-inspired boom in ecommerce. Now, however, the company will lose around 1,000 employees, cutting back on “over-specialised” roles.

Seedtag raises €250M to scale AI technology

Contextual advertising company Seedtag has raised over €250m (£211m) in funding from Advent International, a private equity investor.

Under the transaction, Seedtag’s existing investors Oakley Capital, All Iron Ventures, and Adara will continue to support the firm’s growth. The company’s co-founders and co-CEOs, Jorge Poyatos and Albert Nieto, will also remain as investors.

The investment will enable Seedtag’s to further develop its contextual AI technology, LIZ©, in addition to aiding the company’s expansion into the US market.