Meta, the social media and technology platform formerly known as Facebook, is conducting another round of layoffs that will impact around 6,000 employees. These layoffs are part of a larger initiative from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, called the “Year of Efficiency”. As part of this restructuring, Meta has already reduced its global headcount by around 25% from 87,000 in November.
Employees knew that the layoffs were coming after Zuckerberg’s blog post in March that 10,000 jobs would be cut in two rounds of layoffs at the end of April and May, following the 11,000 job cuts in November. This week’s process largely affected business roles whereas April’s layoffs hit tech teams. The company also suspended recruiting for nearly 5,000 job openings.
In an effort to save money and flatten its organizational structure, Meta has been undergoing a major transformation. Mark Zuckerberg detailed this in his March blog post discussing the indirect costs of reducing low-priority projects. This news has understandably left many employees feeling anxious about their careers.
In addition, Meta has also invested in leading-edge tech known as the metaverse. Last year, they spent $13.7 billion on their Reality Labs department which focuses on Meta’s metaverse developments. This elicited a skeptical response from investors, but Zuckerberg stands by his commitment to focusing on artificial intelligence (AI) and the metaverse. AI is an embedded part of Meta’s AR and VR research, in addition to content moderation, algorithmic feeds, and other technological aspects of the platform.
Most recently, Meta introduced their own AI coding tool and an AI sandbox app for advertisers. They have also revealed plans to create custom chips and an enormous supercomputer to support heavy AI lifting. Such projects put Meta in competition with tech giants like Microsoft and Google who have their own versions of these AI-infrastructure plans.
To summarize, Meta is executing a long-term plan to save money and restructure the platform for efficiency. The company has significantly reduced its global headcount in the past month and has invested heavily in AI research. This includes the creation of a generative AI coding tool, an AI Sandbox for advertisers, and their own supercomputer to support large-scale AI use. A total of 21,000 employees have lost their jobs as a result of all the layoffs, leaving many individuals in a difficult and uncertain position.
