Former President Donald Trump offered Facebook's parent company Meta some advice Thursday for what he says are "two of the worst decisions in business history."
Technology companies like Meta have been rattled in recent months as advertising revenue continues to slow ahead of an anticipated recession this year. In November, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a 13 percent reduction in his company's staff, which cut around 11,000 jobs.
On Thursday, Trump claimed on his Truth Social account that Meta had "lost $750 Billion in value, and has become very boring" since he was banned from the social network. The former president was suspended from using his Facebook and Instagram accounts on January 7, 2021, the day after his supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol.
"Maybe their first step should be to get away from the ridiculous change in name to Meta, and go back to 'Facebook,'" Trump wrote. "Whoever made that decision, and the decision to take me off, will go down in the Business Hall of Fame for two of the worst decisions in Business History!"
Meta, which changed its name from Facebook in June, said at the time of Trump's suspension that it would reconsider his status on their platforms after two years. NBC News reported on Thursday that Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said that the company would "announce a decision in the coming weeks" regarding Trump's possible reinstatement.
Trump was also banned from his Twitter account in January 2021 following the Capitol riots, but Twitter CEO Elon Musk reversed the exile in November. The former president, however, has yet to use his unlocked account.
Meta did report a significant drop in revenue last year, plunging 4 percent from July to September alone, reported NPR. As a result, Meta's shares dropped 23 percent in October, and layoffs followed.
Despite the slowdown in revenue streams, the company saw a 5.15 percent increase from September 2021 to September 2022, according to a report from the website Macrotrends.
Zuckerberg's media conglomerate is not the only technology company to slash a large amount of its workforce in recent months. Musk wasted no time in slashing half of Twitter's employees after acquiring the company in late October, saying the platform was unprofitable at the time. This week, Amazon announced plans to lay off more than 18,000 employees in the new year, reported CNN.
Trump has a checkered history as a business owner, as Newsweek previously highlighted the former president's history of bankruptcies and other company failures.
Newsweek has reached out to Meta for comment.
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