Meta is reportedly trimming its WhatsApp, Instagram, and Reality Labs teams among others. Many of the impacted employees have posted about the job cuts on social media.
The company is reportedly looking at reallocation of resources, which will involve reassigning roles to employees and even moving teams to other locations. Simply put, the firm is undertaking a restructuring exercise within certain teams. The Verge reports that the team-specific changes at Meta are aimed at ensuring alignment of resources with the company’s “long-term strategic goals and location strategy”.
Job cuts at Meta began two years ago, when 11,000 people were laid off. At the time the cuts were attributed to growth overestimation post the COVID-19 pandemic. The following year, in 2023, 10,000 roles were cut as part of Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, Meta’s plans to make the year all about efficiency. The tech company had attributed the 2023 layoffs to over-hiring during a period of rapid growth and the need to stay competitive in the market. Employees in its human resources and recruitment departments were impacted then. At the time, Zuckerberg had also confirmed that the company intended to eliminate 5,000 open positions.
In the first week of October this year, that is, 2024, Reality Labs, the metaverse-oriented division of Meta had announced layoffs. The division that creates custom silicon revealed the plan on an internal discussion forum, with the employees being notified formally soon after.
