Report: Facebook Aims to Boost Staff By 50% This Year

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg tells Bloomberg news agency that the social networking giant is looking to increase its workforce by up to 50 percent.

Zuckerberg says Facebook is eager to take advantage of the surplus of engineers looking for employment.

“No one else has been hiring,” Zuckerberg, 25, said in an interview. “It’s been a great environment for us because the economy has helped out.”

Glad to hear it, Mark. That economy’s really been working out great for everybody!

Facebook currently has 1,000 employees. Zuckerberg says the company intends to grow cautiously in order not to jeopardize its chances of becoming cash-flow positive in 2010. Facebook, which now has 250 million users, should post $500 million or more in revenue this year, according to board member Marc Andreessen.

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