() — Facebook’s parent company Meta on Wednesday began its latest round of layoffs that targeted technical workers, often seen as the most immune to cutbacks in Silicon Valley.
Meta spokesman Nkechi Nneji confirmed to that some previously announced layoffs would take place on Wednesday and recalled CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s March announcement that the company would cut another 10,000 jobs in the coming months.
Zuckerberg’s notice said that restructurings and layoffs at Meta’s technology groups would take place in April. Among those affected by the layoffs on Wednesday were members of the sustainability, well-being and user experience teams, as well as the teams that work on the “News Feed” (channel or news source) and company messaging, according to publications. public on LinkedIn.
Meta reportedly told North American employees to work from home on Wednesday, in anticipation of the layoffs. ( could not independently confirm this.)
Members of Meta’s recruiting team were notified of the additional layoffs last month and the cuts in the company’s business groups are expected to take place by the end of May.
The 10,000 job cuts mark the second recent round of significant job cuts in Meta. The company said in November it would cut about 13% of its workforce, the equivalent of 11,000 jobs, in the biggest round of cuts in its history.
In September, Meta reported a workforce of 87,314 employees, according to a securities presentation. With 11,000 job cuts announced in November and 10,000 announced last month, Meta’s headcount will drop to around 66,000 employees, a total reduction of around 25%.
Mark Zeuckerberg.
Meta said the layoffs are part of its “efficiency year” as the company tries to engineer a turnaround after repeated declines in revenue, increased competition, concerns about user growth and heavy losses at its Reality division. Labs despite their efforts to build the so-called metaverse. Zuckerberg also took responsibility for overstaffing done in the pandemic, when there was strong demand for the company’s products and online advertising, which slowed down somewhat once the world reopened.
Zuckerberg said last month that, in some cases, it could take until the end of this year to complete the restructuring processes for his staff.
“As I spoke about efficiency this year, I said that part of our job will be to eliminate jobs, and that will serve to build a more efficient and more technical company, and improve our business performance to enable our long-term vision of the future,” Zuckerberg said in his March statement.
Meta is scheduled to report earnings for the first three months of 2023 next week, during which Wall Street analysts expect it to post its fourth straight quarterly decline in revenue and a more than 30% decline in profit. Still, Meta shareholders appear to have reassured Zuckerberg’s efficiency plans: The company’s shares are up more than 70% year-to-date as of midday Wednesday.
