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| Image: Future Publishing | Getty Images |
Meta, the tech giant that owns Facebook and Instagram, has announced its plan to lay off around 10,000 employees, or roughly 13 percent of its workforce. This marks the company’s second round of job cuts since November, as it aims to increase efficiency and streamline its operations. The move comes as the company faces multiple challenges, including a digital advertising slowdown, Apple’s privacy changes, and competition from TikTok.
Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s founder and CEO, has declared 2023 as the “year of efficiency”. In a memo posted on the company’s website, he outlined the restructuring plan, which includes the closure of about 5,000 job postings that have yet to be filled, a restructuring of its tech and business groups, and the completion of an analysis of Meta’s hybrid return-to-office model. The layoffs will initially affect the recruiting team this week, with further restructuring efforts to come in April and May.
The decision to cut jobs comes after years of rapid hiring, as Meta’s family of apps, which also includes WhatsApp, gained popularity worldwide. However, as the global economy soured and digital advertising markets contracted last year, Zuckerberg began putting an end to unchecked growth. The pandemic also accelerated the use of mobile apps, leading to even more growth for Meta. At its peak last year, the company had 87,000 full-time employees.
The layoffs are a difficult decision for Meta, and Zuckerberg acknowledged this in his memo, stating, “This will be tough and there’s no way around that.” However, he believes that the restructuring is necessary to respond to the challenges of a changing global economy, including increased regulation, geopolitical instability, higher interest rates, and a cooling economy.
Meta is also in the midst of a tricky transition to become a “metaverse” company, connecting people to an immersive digital world through virtual-reality headsets and applications. Zuckerberg sees the metaverse as the next-generation computing platform, and Meta has been spending billions of dollars on the effort and reallocating workers to its Reality Labs division, which is focused on products for the metaverse. However, it is unclear if people will want to use metaverse products, and the public has recently gravitated to chatbots built on artificial intelligence.
In conclusion, Meta’s decision to lay off 10,000 workers is a reflection of the challenges the company faces in a rapidly changing global economy. While the move may be tough for those affected, it is a necessary step for Meta to increase efficiency and streamline its operations. With the metaverse on the horizon, Meta will need to continue to adapt and innovate to stay ahead of the competition.