Meta is planning multiple rounds of additional layoffs that would amount to the same 13% cut to staffing it enacted last year, the Wall Street Journal reports(Opens in a new window).
The first wave of cuts is reportedly expected to be announced this week and will likely affect non-engineering positions “especially hard,” the report says.
In addition, the Facebook and Instagram parent is set to shut down projects such as some wearable devices in Meta’s loss-making Reality Labs VR division. In an earnings update last month, it was revealed the VR division lost a hefty $13.7 billion in 2022, $3.5 billion more than it lost in 2021.
On Thursday, Meta Chief Financial Officer Susan Li made some overtures to the planned cuts, at a Morgan Stanley-hosted technology conference. “We’re continuing to look across the company, across both Family of Apps and Reality Labs, and really evaluate are we deploying our resources toward the highest leverage opportunities.”
This evaluation, she said, would “result in [Meta] making some tough decisions to wind down projects in some places, to shift resources away from some teams.”
The planned cuts come during what CEO Mark Zuckerberg has described as a “year of efficiency.” When the company embarked on its first mass layoffs last year, Zuckerberg said he expected the company to end 2023 with around as many employees as it had in October 2022. The fresh wave of planned cuts appears to suggest Meta is downsizing rather than flatlining, however.
As part of the efficiency savings, Meta announced it would trial making its staff book hot desks(Opens in a new window) before they arrive at the office, shifting away from permanently assigned desks or offices. This was heavily criticized by Meta workers at the time, with one writing on Meta’s internal discussion boards that the plan was “taking something that’s working” and “replacing it with a horrible, non-working alternative.”
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The Journal reports that the severance will be the same offered to those cut in November, namely four months of salary in addition to additional time based on tenure.
Meta did not immediately respond to PCMag’s request for comment.
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