Meta to implement job reductions; Zuckerberg reportedly conducts preparatory talk with employees
Meta to Implement Widespread Job Cuts Amidst Tech Sector Downsizing
In a move that signals a significant shift in the tech industry, Meta Platforms Inc. has announced plans to initiate widespread job cuts starting on Wednesday. The Menlo Park, California-based company, which owns Instagram and WhatsApp, has implemented an hiring freeze and expects headcount to be smaller in 2023 than it is this year.
This is the first major budget cut at Meta since the company's founding in 2004. The job cuts are part of a cost-reduction strategy at the social-media giant following disappointing earnings and a decrease in profits. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, spoke to executives on Tuesday to prepare them for the cuts.
The affected employees will be informed starting Wednesday morning. The departments within Meta most likely to be heavily affected by the cost-cutting measures are not explicitly detailed, but typically such measures impact non-revenue-generating units first, including administrative, marketing, and development divisions, while core product teams may be prioritized to maintain growth.
The tech sector has been experiencing a wave of job reductions, with other companies such as Twitter Inc. and Snap Inc. also scaling back their workforce. The layoffs at Twitter and Snap Inc. occurred before Meta's job cuts, with Twitter seeing a significant reduction in its labor force, approximately 50%, following its sale to Elon Musk. Snap Inc., the parent company of competing app Snapchat, announced in August that it would eliminate 20% of its workforce.
The job cuts and the heavy investment in a speculative virtual-reality project called the metaverse indicate a sharp slowdown in digital advertising revenue and a potentially challenging economic climate. The layoffs at Twitter and Snap Inc. are separate from Meta's job cuts and are not related to Meta's hiring freeze or cost-reduction strategy.
Notably, Elon Musk justified the Twitter layoffs as necessary to stem losses at the social media network, while Musk later asked some discharged employees to return to Twitter. The specifics of the job cuts at Meta would require direct information from Meta's announcements or financial reports.
In a statement, Zuckerberg admitted responsibility for the company's "mistakes" and emphasized the need for Meta to become more efficient in order to navigate the current economic challenges. The exact number of jobs to be cut is not yet clear, but it is expected to affect approximately 10% of the company's workforce, which employed over 87,000 as of September 30.
Read also:
- Exploring Harry Potter's Lineage: Decoding the Enigma of His Half-Blood Ancestry
- Elon Musk Acquires 26,400 Megawatt Gas Turbines for Powering His AI Project, Overlooks Necessary Permits for Operation!
- Ontario terminates $100M Starlink agreement due to U.S. import taxes
- Predictive modeling introduced in DP World's automotive supply chain operations
