LogInMeta is planning to lay off "many thousands of employees" and is supposed to announce this decision as early as Wednesday.
Meta is reportedly planning to start "large-scale layoffs" this week as part of its cost-cutting measures. The news comes from The Wall Street Journal which cites people familiar with the matter. According to them, Meta is planning to lay off "many thousands of employees" and is supposed to announce this decision as early as Wednesday.
Reports from various developers and researchers who stated that the company was canceling some events and travel starting this week also indicate Meta's efforts in cutting costs.
Earlier, it was already reported that the company plans a major budget cut that entails decelerating hiring and restructuring some teams with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly warning staff that the company is going to be "somewhat smaller" by the end of 2023.
The move follows the company's first-ever decline in revenue and would mean the first time in its 18-year-old history that it reduces headcount so broadly.
A spokesman for Meta declined to comment, citing CEO Mark Zuckerberg's recent statement that the company intends to focus its investments "on a small number of high priority growth areas." During the October 26 earnings report, he stressed that some divisions could grow significantly, but most will either retain their previous staff or lose a significant number of employees.
Like other tech giants, Meta had been on a hiring spree during the pandemic, when demand for social media skyrocketed. The company hired over 27 thousand employees in 2020-2021 and another 15,000 in the first 9 months of this year, with about one-fourth of them being hired in the previous quarter.
Nevertheless, since the beginning of the year, the company's stock has fallen by more than 70% – both due to the worsening macroeconomic situation in the world, and, according to investors, due to high expenses that are associated with the company's Reality Labs division which is responsible for developing AR and VR headsets as well as the creation of the metaverse.
According to the WSJ, since the beginning of last year, the project has cost Meta $15 billion. But despite the large investment in the Horizon Worlds platform, the number of visitors to this virtual world not only does not grow but has recently been declining, which causes dissatisfaction among those who invested money in the project.
You can learn more by reading the WSJ's report here. Also, don't forget to join our Reddit page and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram and Twitter, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.