Tech layoffs: Meta India directors of marketing, media partnerships laid off

Facebook parent company Meta has implemented another round of layoffs, also resulting in the removal of two top executives in India. Avinash Pant, the Director of Marketing, and Saket Jha Saurabh, the Director and Head of Media Partnerships, were both let go as part of the company's restructuring plan, according to a report by Reuters.

The layoffs at Meta were carried out across various business and operations units on Wednesday. Numerous employees working in departments such as marketing, site security, enterprise engineering, program management, content strategy, and corporate communications took to LinkedIn to announce their unfortunate job losses.

The social media giant also reduced the number of employees in its units focused on privacy and integrity, as per some of the posts of Meta employees on LinkedIn.

Also Watch: Best smartphones under Rs 30,000: Motorola Edge 40 5G vs Poco F5 vs iQOO Neo 6

Earlier this year, Meta made headlines by becoming the first major technology company to announce a second round of massive layoffs. The previous round saw over 11,000 employees being laid off, effectively bringing the company's headcount back to its mid-2021 levels. This was a significant move considering Meta had experienced a period of rapid expansion, doubling its workforce since 2020.

Despite layoffs, Meta's shares closed slightly higher in a generally weaker market. The company's stock has more than doubled in value this year, making it one of the top performers in the S&P 500 index. The surge in value of Meta stocks has also re-introduced Zuckerberg back in the top-10 rankings of Bloomberg's Billionaire Index. 

Also read: Facebook owner Meta sells Giphy to Shutterstock for $53M after buying it for $400M just 3 years ago

This surge in value can be attributed to Meta's cost-cutting efforts and its increasing focus on artificial intelligence.

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, had previously mentioned that the majority of the layoffs in the second round would occur in three phases over several months, with the process largely concluding in May. However, smaller rounds of layoffs may still take place after this period.

The job cuts primarily affected non-engineering roles, reinforcing the company's emphasis on engineering talent. Zuckerberg has expressed his commitment to restructuring the business teams and achieving a more balanced ratio of engineers to other roles.

During a town hall, Zuckerberg stated that approximately 4,000 employees lost their jobs in April, following a smaller reduction in recruiting teams in March.

In addition to the global layoffs, Meta announced that around 490 employees, nearly 20 per cent of its Irish workforce, were likely to be affected at its international headquarters in Dublin.

Also read: Meta fined $1.3 billion by EU privacy regulators for transferring user data to US

Meta's decision to implement these layoffs follows a period of dwindling revenue growth, driven by high inflation and a decline in digital advertising due to the slowdown in e-commerce during the pandemic.