Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms Inc., left, arrives at federal court in San Jose, California, US, on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Meta has started its latest round of layoffs, focusing on business groups
While not yet confirmed by the company, Meta employees with roles in user experience, marketing, recruiting and engineering took to LinkedIn to announce they had been let go by the company on Wednesday, backing up an earlier report by Reuters.
The cuts are part of Meta’s so-called “year of efficiency,” which CEO Mark Zuckerberg pitched as necessary for the company to slim down and become more nimble amid a challenging economy and weakened digital advertising market.
“As I’ve talked about efficiency this year, I’ve said that part of our work will involve removing jobs — and that will be in service of both building a leaner, more technical company and improving our business performance to enable our long term vision,” Zuckerberg said in March in a post. “I understand that this update may still feel surprising, so I’d like to lay out some broader context on our vision, our culture, and our operating philosophy.”
In April, Meta reported first-quarter revenue rose 3% from $27.91 billion a year earlier, after three straight periods in which revenue declined.
Despite the cost cuts, Meta is still investing heavily into the nascent metaverse, and its Reality Labs unit which is developing virtual reality and augmented reality technologies logged a $3.99 billion operating loss while generating $339 million in the first quarter.
Investors have praised Meta’s major cost-cutting, sending the social networking giant’s shares rising 177% to $264.74 since bottoming at under $89 in November.
A Meta spokesperson wasn’t immediately available to comment.
