US NEWS
Meta layoffs: Mark Zuckerberg’s company planning to cut 10,000 more employees in downsizing plan
The company has announced another round of layoffs after removing 10,000 others just four months ago, emphasising the problems at the social media company.
Meta, the parent company of social media apps Facebook and Instagram, said it will be cutting 10,000 jobs. It is the second large layoff by the company in recent months as it deals with a changing advertising landscape that is devastating the tech world.
After proudly announcing that this year would be the year of “execution”, CEO Mark Zuckerberg probably didn’t want to be swinging the axe so soon. Big plans such as the Metaverse have not yet yielded sufficient funds to cover for the loss of advertisement revenue. With consumers pulling back from spending, companies are looking to keep investors happy by cutting staff numbers.
Previous cuts eliminated 11,000 jobs, around 13% of the workforce in November. Since the start of 2022 tech companies have cut 290,000 jobs though this figure has not yet been felt in overall unemployment figures which remain strong.
The job cuts were expected and Wall Street accepted them greedily with shares in the company increasing in value by 6% on the news.
Alongside the job cuts was the announcement that 5,000 hiring plans had been shelved as well as the culling of low-priority projects. What these projects were has not been said.
When will workers find out whether they will have a job?
The company memo on Tuesday explained the timeframe for the layoffs. “We expect to announce restructurings and lay-offs in our tech groups in late April 2023, and then our business groups in late May 2023,” said Zuckerberg.
“In a small number of cases, it may take through to the end of the year to complete these changes.”
“Our timelines for international teams will also look different, and local leaders will follow up with more details.”