'OG Mark' is back – and some think Zuck has Elon Musk to thank for his new attitude

• Mark Zuckerberg's new attitude is being hailed by Meta insiders as "OG Mark," per the WSJ.
• The CEO's focus on cost-cutting has helped boost Meta, while he's become popular for his fighting.

The much-hyped launch of Threads, Meta's Twitter killer, might have a particularly Musky scent to it — but this time, it could be coming from Meta's CEO.

Sources told The Wall Street Journal that Mark Zuckerberg's been ruthless and acted in a "cutthroat manner" behind the scenes while Meta quickly built Threads and engaged in harsh cost-cutting measures this year.

They told the newspaper it's one of several signs that Zuck has returned to the "OG Mark" persona that helped turn Facebook into a social media juggernaut.

For much of the previous decade, Zuckerberg was a somewhat elusive figure. Consistent revenue and share price growth for the company then known as Facebook, combined with a less-than-flattering portrayal in Oscar-winning "The Social Network," both allowed and encouraged the billionaire to keep a low profile.

The 2020s have been an entirely different story, however.

Now called Meta, with a new focus on virtual reality, the company and Zuckerberg have faced something of an existential crisis. In the second quarter of last year, revenues declined for the first time since it listed on the stock market in 2012.

Meta's market value sank by about $600 billion in 2022 and despite a rally this year is still a fifth below its August 2021 peak.

That all seems to have prompted Zuckerberg to start acting, well, a bit more like Elon Musk.

First came the layoffs. Following in the footsteps of Musk, who fired thousands of Twitter staff last year, Zuckerberg took the axe to the payroll to cut costs.

Meta has laid off tens of thousands of workers amid its "year of efficiency." With the delivery of thousands of subpar reviews for some workers, and doubling performance targets, the "chopper-in-chief" looks to be back to a ruthlessness more associated with Musk in recent years.

But Zuckerberg's not been afraid to take risks this year either. Encouraged by the chaos at Twitter since Musk's takeover, he launched "Project 92" to create Threads, Meta's own text-based app, the Journal reported.

With 150 million downloads in under two weeks, Threads looks to have won the first round with Twitter, even if the more difficult fight to keep users coming back is just beginning.

Operational changes might help explain the somewhat unusual behavior Zuckerberg has shown in the past 12 months. Indeed, he seems to be emulating the cult of the CEO personality popularized by Musk.

It's difficult to go a week without the latest Zuckerberg "thirst trap" appearing online. He regularly poses with MMA fighters and posts videos of him surfing.

He's also hyping up a cage fight with Musk, whose tweets have become increasingly unhinged as he proposes a "dick-measuring contest" and labels Zuck a "cuck."

Zuckerberg might have read from the book of Elon in recent months, but if Threads dethrones Twitter and he wins a cage fight (if it ever actually happens), he could just beat Musk at his own game.