- Kyle Chua
Meta Could Reportedly Layoff Thousands of Employees This Week
More large-scale layoffs are hitting big tech as the sector braces for a volatile economic environment.
Meta Platforms is said to be planning to reduce its headcount this week, which could affect thousands of employees, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. An announcement could be made as early as Wednesday, 9 November 2022. The social media giant, however, declined to comment on the report.
In its October earnings report, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram slashed over US$67 billion off its stock market value in extended trade after forecasting that it’ll continue to record more losses until next year as development for the metaverse continues. So far, it has lost over half a trillion dollars in value this year.
Reality Labs, the division at Meta responsible for developing experiences that’ll power the metaverse, lost US$3.7 billion in the third quarter of 2022, up from US$2.6 billion from a year ago and US$2.8 billion last quarter. This is what led the company to have a less-than-favourable outlook for 2023, with losses even anticipated to grow “significantly” year-over-year.
Apple’s privacy changes and the growth of TikTok, among other factors, also continue to hurt Meta’s revenue streams.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said it could take up to a decade before his company’s investments in the metaverse could bear fruit. To weather the losses for the time being, he’s freezing hiring, reorganising teams and shutting down new projects.
In June of this year, the company had halted plans to hire engineers by at least 30%, with Zuckerberg warning employees to brace for an economic downturn.
The news comes amid a number of tech giants similarly announcing massive layoffs and job cuts, including the likes of Microsoft, Twitter and Snap. Twitter, in particular, just last week laid off roughly half of its 7,500-strong workforce spread across different offices in the world, including one in Singapore.
Meta Platforms is said to be planning to reduce its headcount this week, which could affect thousands of employees.
An announcement could be made as early as Wednesday, 9 November 2022.
In its October earnings report, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram slashed over US$67 billion off its stock market value in extended trade after forecasting that it’ll continue to record more losses until next year as development for the metaverse continues.