Meta Platforms Inc. chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, left, arrives in federal court in San Jose, California, U.S., Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Meta began its third round of layoffs as part of the company’s multi-billion dollar plan to cut costs.
The latest round of cuts targets members of Meta’s business groups and follows a previous round of layoffs in April that affected employees in technical roles. About 10,000 workers will lose their jobs between the April and May cuts, following the company’s first round in November that affected 11,000 employees.
Meta employees with roles in user experience, marketing, recruiting and engineering took to LinkedIn to announce they had been laid off on Wednesday, confirming an earlier report by Reuters. Meta declined to comment but referred CNBC to an earlier post by CEO Mark Zuckerberg indicating that cuts to the company’s business groups would begin in late May.
The cuts are part of Meta’s so-called efficiency year, which Zuckerberg touted as necessary for the company to slim down and become more nimble in a tough economy and weakened digital advertising market.
“As I spoke about efficiency this year, I said part of our job will be to cut jobs – and that will serve both to build a leaner, more technical business and to improve our business performance. to enable long-term vision,” Zuckerberg said in March in a job. “I understand that this update may still seem surprising, so I’d like to provide some broader context on our vision, culture and operating philosophy.”
In April, Meta reported that first-quarter revenue rose 3% from $27.91 billion a year earlier, after three consecutive periods of decline.
Despite the cost cuts, Meta is still investing heavily in the nascent metaverse, and its Reality Labs unit, which develops virtual reality and augmented reality technologies, posted an operating loss of $3.99 billion while generating $339 million in first-quarter sales.
Investors hailed Meta’s deep cost cuts, sending shares of the social media giant up 180% to $246.74 since bottoming out at under $89 in November.
Correction: Shares of Meta are up 180% to $246.74 since bottoming out below $89 in November. An earlier version had two incorrect digits.
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