Facebook Goes on Massive Hiring Spree
For example, Facebook snapped up virtual reality technology from Oculus Rift for $2 billion in March and now there are 54 jobs listed on its Web site, according to a Reuters report. Facebook is looking to hire managers to oversee logistics, procurement and global supply chain planning for its Oculus business. Facebook is also looking to populate its data centers, according to Reuters. Open positions range from software engineers to salespeople.
“We are an ambitious company run by an ambitious CEO,” Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg told Reuters. “Our users are growing and our business is growing and we want to support that.”
Facebook’s Deep Pockets
The company has also moved to build its own drones and satellites that can deliver Internet service to remote areas of the world. Of course, Google and Amazon are working on similar initiatives -- Google has invested billions to expand Internet access via satellites and Amazon is looking to deliver products to your doorstep with drones -- and so the race is on.
“There’s a fairly direct correlation between [Facebook's] investment in people and servers and infrastructure , and their ability to remain competitive,” Robert Baird & Co analyst Colin Sebastian, told Reuters.
Facebook has plenty of money to spend. The company’s revenue for the third quarter of 2014 totaled $3.2 billion, an increase of 59 percent compared with $2.02 billion in the third quarter of 2013. Revenue from advertising was $2.96 billion, a 64 percent increase from the same quarter in 2013. Capital expenditures for the third quarter of 2014 were only $482 million.
An Efficient Worker Base
Facebook had 8,348 full-time employees at the end of September, according to Reuters. That compares to Google’s 55,000 workers and Microsoft ’s whopping 127,000 employees. Facebook reportedly gets more bang for its employee buck than either of those competitors -- about $384,000 per employee in the third quarter of 2014, versus $300,000 for Google and $183,000 for Microsoft.
“In the last few years, Facebook has moved quickly and deftly into these new business endeavors, not content to rest on its cooling social media laurels. It has grown largely through acquisition, snapping up separate, independent companies and product like Oculus, Atlas Ad Server, WhatsApp, and Instagram, instead of trying to build them from scratch,” wrote GigaOM's Carmel DeAmicis.
“CEO Mark Zuckerberg is investing in Facebook’s future stability and growth, a smart move given the fact that its core social product has faded in relevance with younger populations. Eventually teens grow up and become the new adults, slowly decreasing Facebook’s power over time,” according to DeAmicis.