Guwahati: The parent company of Facebook, Meta this week is planning for widespread layoffs that are anticipated to affect thousands of its employees.
In a recent spate of tech job cuts after the industry’s rapid growth during the pandemic, Meta Platforms Inc is planning to begin large-scale layoffs this week, according to people familiar with the matter, reported The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
According to the persons acquainted with the situation, thousands of employees are anticipated to be laid off and an announcement might be made as soon as Wednesday.
Meta stated that it employed more than 87,000 people at the end of September. According to the persons, company managers have already instructed employees to postpone any non-essential travel starting this week.
The upcoming layoffs would be the organization’s first significant headcount cutbacks in its 18-year history. According to WSJ, the number of Meta employees who are anticipated to lose their jobs could be the most to date at a significant technology business in a year that has seen a retrenchment in the tech sector.
In September, the Wall Street Journal reported that Meta intended to reduce costs by at least 10% in the upcoming months, including some personnel layoffs.
Following several months of more focused staffing reductions during which people were managed out of their positions or had their responsibilities abolished, the layoffs are anticipated to be disclosed this week.
During the end of June, Mark Zuckerberg informed staff at a meeting that “really, there are probably a handful of people at the firm that shouldn’t be here.”
As life and business migrated further online during the epidemic, Meta, like other tech behemoths, went on a hiring binge. In 2020 and 2021 combined, it added more than 27,000 workers. In the first nine months of this year, it added a further 15,344 workers—roughly one-fourth of that during the most recent quarter.
The business’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, recently said that the company would “focus our investments on a small number of high-priority development areas,” but a spokeswoman for Meta declined to comment further.
On the company’s third-quarter results call on October 26, he stated, “So that implies some teams will grow considerably, but the majority of other teams will stay flat or shrink over the next year.”
“In aggregate, we expect to end 2023 as either roughly the same size or even a slightly smaller organization than we are today,” he added.
This year, the value of Meta’s shares has decreased by more than 70%. The company has emphasised the deteriorating macroeconomic prospects, but according to WSJ, the company’s spending and risks to its core social network business have also alarmed investors.
Due to TikTok’s fierce competition and Apple Inc.’s requirement that users consent to Apple tracking of their devices, that company’s growth in many markets has slowed. This has limited the ability of social media platforms to target advertisements.