Facebook News: Going On Hiring Spree for Big Expansion

Facebook will be hiring as many as 1,200 new employees to its rank, one of its high-ranking officials has confirmed.

Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer at Facebook, disclosed that the social networking giant's recent acquisitions and investments in several tech companies call for the need to hire more employees.

"We are an ambitious company run by an ambitious CEO (chief executive officer). Our users are growing and our business is growing and we want to support that," Sandberg said, according to Reuters.

Facebook, which reportedly had 8,348 full-time employees as of last September, recently took over tech firms that specialize in niche markets like virtual reality, drone production, and data centers.

According to a review of job listings on the company's website, the new hires are set to swell the company's ranks by as much as 14 percent in the near term.

Oculus Rift, the maker of virtual reality headsets that Facebook acquired in a $2 billion deal last year, is among the key areas slated for growth, with 54 jobs listed on its website.

In its job listing review, Facebook says it needs people to work in Oculus as managers to oversee logistics, procurement and global supply chain planning. Some analysts said this indicates that the Oculus product is close to commercial release.

Facebook's ambitious effort to build its own satellites and drones capable of delivering Internet service to remote regions of the world is another important area for hiring, Reuters reported.

This calls for Facebook to look for specialists in areas such as avionics, radio frequency communications and thermal engineering.

Facebook's growth spurt comes as the company expands into new markets and faces stiffening competition from rivals Google, Alibaba and well-capitalized start-ups such as Snapchat.