Meta finalises layoffs, cutting 10,000 jobs, refocusing on AI
Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, completed its final phase of a three-part round of job cuts, reducing its workforce by 10,000. Employees from various departments, including marketing, site security, enterprise engineering, program management, content strategy, and corporate communications, announced their layoffs on LinkedIn. Privacy and integrity units were also affected by the job cuts.
The social media giant previously become the first major tech company to announce a second round of mass layoffs, with over 11,000 employees being let go in the autumn. This resulted in the company’s headcount returning to its mid-2021 level after a hiring surge that doubled its workforce since 2020. Meta’s shares have more than doubled in value this year, making it one of the top performers in the S&P 500 index, due to its cost-cutting measures and focus on artificial intelligence.
In March, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that the majority of the job cuts in the second round would occur in three “moments” over several months, with the process largely concluding in May. Some smaller rounds of layoffs may continue after that time. The majority of the job cuts affected non-engineering roles, as Zuckerberg aims to restructure the business teams “substantially” and achieve a “more optimal ratio of engineers to other roles.”
Even within technology teams, non-engineering roles such as content design and user experience research have been most heavily affected, according to executives following the last round of layoffs in April. Around 4,000 employees were let go in April, following a smaller reduction in recruiting teams in March.
Approximately 490 employees at Meta’s international headquarters in Dublin are expected to be impacted by the latest job cuts, accounting for nearly 20% of its Irish workforce. In India, two top executives, director of marketing Avinash Pant and Saket Jha Saurabh, director and head of media partnerships, were also laid off, according to sources with direct knowledge of the situation.
Meta’s job cuts come amid slowing revenue growth, high inflation, and a reduction in digital advertising following the pandemic-driven e-commerce boom. The company has also invested billions of dollars into its metaverse-focused Reality Labs unit, which lost US$13.7 billion in 2022, as well as a project to develop its infrastructure to support artificial intelligence work, reported Channel News Asia.
