Meta layoffs: Facebook parent company plans another round of 13% job cuts

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is preparing for additional layoffs that will be conducted in several rounds over the upcoming months. The overall number of layoffs would be about same as the 13 per cent reduction in workforce Meta saw last year, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

According to the reports, the magnitude of this layoff is expected to be similar to the last year's layoff in which Meta cut roughly 11,000 jobs or about 13 per cent of its employees. The first round of layoffs is expected to be announced next week and is likely to hit non-engineering roles especially hard. In addition, some ongoing projects and teams are also expected to be shut down. 

Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg previously said that 2023 would be a “year of efficiency” at Meta and that some projects would likely shut down at the company.

The report states that the final count of the cumulative cuts expected over the second quarter isn’t yet clear.

“We’re continuing to look across the company, across both Family of Apps and Reality Labs, and really evaluate are we deploying our resources toward the highest leverage opportunities,” Meta Chief Financial Officer Susan Li said Thursday at the Morgan Stanley 2023 Technology, Media & Telecom Conference. 

“This is going to result in us making some tough decisions to wind down projects in some places, to shift resources away from some teams,” she added.

Wall Street Journal reported that among the projects that will be cut are some wearable devices that were in the works at Reality Labs, Meta’s hardware and metaverse division, suggesting a near-term retreat from efforts to popularise virtual and augmented reality products even as longer-term research efforts continue. 
Given Zuckerberg's October forecast that the business will conclude 2023 with approximately the same number of employees as it did then, the company's ongoing reductions are noteworthy.

The company sought to encourage further attrition through the performance review process, reported Wall Street Journal.

Also Read: Facebook, Instagram parent company Meta to lay off thousands of employees this week: Report