Owner of WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook – Meta is about to reduce its staff capacity by laying off up to ten thousand (10,000) staff in March 2023.
With the latest move, it will be the second time in five months the company is cutting jobs. First was in November when 11,000 employees were rendered redundant.
As per BBC reports, Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said the cuts – part of a “year of efficiency” – would be “tough”.
In addition to the 10,000 jobs cut, 5,000 vacancies at the firm will be left unfilled, he told staff.
Mr Zuckerberg, in a memo told employees he believed the company had suffered “a humbling wake-up call” in 2022 when it experienced a dramatic slowdown in revenue.
Meta previously announced that in the three months to December 2022, earnings were down 4% year-on-year – though it still managed to make a profit of more than $23bn over the course of 2022.
Mr Zuckerberg cited higher interest rates in the US, global geopolitical instability and increased regulation as some of the factors affecting Meta, and contributing to the slowdown.
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“I think we should prepare ourselves for the possibility that this new economic reality will continue for many years,” he said.
The latest job cuts come as companies, including Google and Amazon, have been grappling with how to balance cost-cutting measures with the need to remain competitive.
At the start of this year, Amazon announced it planned to close more than 18,000 jobs because of “the uncertain economy” and rapid hiring during the pandemic, while Google’s parent company Alphabet made 12,000 cuts.
According to layoffs.fyi, which tracks job losses in the tech sector, there have been more than 128,000 job cuts in the tech industry so far in 2023.
