- tech360.tv
Meta Slashes 10,000 Jobs In Final Phase of Layoffs
Updated: Jan 5
Meta Platforms Inc concludes its three-part round of layoffs and eliminated 10,000 roles, impacting international headquarters and key markets.
Meta Platforms Inc (META.O), the parent company of Facebook, implemented the last phase of its comprehensive layoff plan on Wednesday, reducing jobs across various business units. The three-part round of layoffs which was initially announced in March, aimed to eliminate a total of 10,000 positions.
Employees from teams such as marketing, site security, enterprise engineering, program management, content strategy and corporate communications took to LinkedIn to announce their layoffs. The social media giant also downsized its privacy and integrity-focused units, as revealed via the LinkedIn posts.
Earlier this year, Meta became the first major technology company to initiate a second round of mass layoffs, following the dismissal of over 11,000 employees last fall. These cuts brought the company's headcount back to its mid-2021 level after significant workforce expansion throughout 2020. Despite a generally weaker market, Meta's shares closed slightly higher. The company's stock has more than doubled in value this year, partly due to cost-cutting measures and its emphasis on artificial intelligence.
In March, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that the majority of the layoffs would occur in three phases, concluding mainly in May. Smaller rounds of cuts may continue thereafter, he added.
Notably, the layoffs have predominantly impacted non-engineering roles, emphasizing the importance of coding expertise at Meta. Zuckerberg expressed his commitment to significantly restructuring business teams and achieving a more optimal ratio of engineers to other roles. Even within technology teams, non-engineering positions like content design and user experience research were significantly affected, according to executives who spoke at a company town hall after the previous round of layoffs in April. During the town hall, Zuckerberg confirmed that approximately 4,000 employees lost their jobs in April, following a smaller reduction in recruiting teams in March.
The company revealed that the latest cuts are expected to affect around 490 employees at its international headquarters in Dublin, accounting for nearly 20% of its Irish workforce.
Additionally, two senior executives in the Indian market, Avinash Pant, the director of marketing and Saket Jha Saurabh, the director and head of media partnerships, were also laid off, as confirmed by sources familiar with the matter. However, neither executive responded to requests for comment at the time of reporting. Meta's decision to implement these layoffs comes after months of declining revenue growth, influenced by inflationary pressures and reduced digital advertising investment during the e-commerce boom of the pandemic. Moreover, the company has allocated significant investments to its metaverse-oriented Reality Labs unit, which reported a loss of $13.7 billion in 2022, and a project aimed at enhancing its infrastructure to support artificial intelligence endeavors.
Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) carried out the final phase of layoffs, eliminating 10,000 roles as part of a three-part plan.
This is Meta's second round of mass layoffs, bringing the headcount back to mid-2021 levels.
Non-engineering roles were most affected, emphasizing the company's focus on coding expertise.