Meta Platforms (previously, Facebook) grew from just 7 employees in 2004 to over 74,000 by 2024. The early years saw exponential headcount growth as the company scaled alongside its user base. By the time it went public in 2012, Facebook had around 4,600.
Note that most of the pre-IPO numbers are estimates based on Facebook’s own factsheets that were published on about.fb.com. While not exact, they give a decent picture of how quickly the company was building up.
Post-IPO, the growth continued at full speed, hitting 25,000 employees by 2017 and nearly doubling again to 44,000 by 2019. Meta added over 40,000 people between 2020 and 2022, peaking at 86,482 — a massive expansion during the pandemic. But in 2023, headcount dropped sharply to 67,317, reflecting widespread tech layoffs.