On Wednesday, Meta Platforms Inc, the parent company of Facebook, carried out the final round of layoffs as part of its plan announced in March to eliminate 10,000 roles. Employees across various teams, including marketing, site security, enterprise engineering, program management, content strategy, and corporate communications, took to LinkedIn to announce their layoffs. The social media giant also reduced its workforce to units focused on privacy and integrity.
Earlier this year, Meta became the first major tech company to announce a second round of mass layoffs, after laying off over 11,000 employees in the fall. These cuts brought the company’s headcount back to mid-2021 levels, following a period of rapid hiring that doubled its workforce since 2020.
Despite the layoffs, Meta’s shares closed slightly higher in a weaker market. The company’s stock has more than doubled in value this year and is among the top performers in the S&P 500 index, largely due to its cost-cutting efforts and focus on artificial intelligence.
In March, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that the majority of the second round of layoffs would occur in three phases over several months, mostly concluding in May, with the possibility of smaller rounds continuing thereafter. The cuts have primarily impacted non-engineering roles, highlighting the company’s emphasis on engineering talent. Zuckerberg has expressed the intention to restructure business teams and achieve a more balanced ratio of engineers to other roles.
Even within technology teams, non-engineering positions like content design and user experience research have been eliminated significantly, as noted by executives during a company town hall after the previous round of layoffs in April.
Approximately 490 employees at Meta’s international headquarters in Dublin, accounting for nearly 20% of its Irish workforce, are expected to be affected by the recent cuts. Additionally, two senior executives in India, Avinash Pant, director of marketing, and Saket Jha Saurabh, director, and head of media partnerships, were reportedly let go.
Meta’s decision to implement layoffs comes amid a period of declining revenue growth, influenced by high inflation and a digital ad pullback following the e-commerce boom during the pandemic. The company has also been investing significant funds into its Reality Labs unit, focused on the metaverse, which incurred a $13.7 billion loss in 2022, as well as an infrastructure project aimed at supporting artificial intelligence work.
