Optimism
Mark Zuckerberg in Facebook Inc (FB) Q1 2020 Earnings Call
I have always believed that in times of economic downturn, the right thing to do is to keep investing in building the future, and I believe this for a few reasons. First, when the world changes quickly, people have new needs and that means that there are more new segments to build. Second, since many big companies will pull back on their investments, there are a lot of things that wouldn’t otherwise get built, but that we can help deliver. And the third, I believe that there is a sense of responsibility and duty to invest in the economic recovery and to provide stability for your community and stakeholders if you have the ability to do so. And we’re in a fortunate position to be able to do this. Along with our strong financial position and the important social value our services provide, we’re planning to hire at least 10,000 more people in product and engineering roles this year, so we can continue building and making progress.
There is so much despair in the world now, and it is challenging to understand what people are going through during these tough times. Fortunately, not everyone (hopefully) are dealing with this, especially some of the tech companies (entertainment, social, essential services). If you are one of them, please keep building tools at your capacity to help humanity get through these times.
I believe this is a great time and opportunity to show how the right technology solutions can be helpful.