Why Meta Platforms Sank 16.7% in June

Shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) dipped 16.7% in June, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The social media conglomerate that owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp is slowing down hiring this year and was probably affected by the broad market sell-off in technology stocks last month. Shares of the stock are now down more than 50% this year, marking one of the worst drawdowns in the company's history.

There was no official news from Meta Platforms this month, but, being one of the most valuable companies in the world, there was plenty of other news to dig into.

First, on June 30, Reuters reported that CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees the company would be slowing down hiring this year. That's better than layoffs, which a lot of technology companies are going through right now, so I don't think it's a huge concern for Meta Platforms shareholders, but the stock was still down big following the news. Zuckerberg and the executive staff are scaling back hiring because they're seeing what they're calling one of the worst business drawdowns in the company's history. Since Facebook and Instagram both make money selling digital advertising space, an economic downturn is likely to hurt its bottom line -- less consumer spending means less spending on advertising.

Source Fool.com