Facebook and Instagram parent Meta Platforms plans to lay off another 10,000 workers starting today, part of a months-long downsizing and restructuring effort to overhaul the social media giant in an increasingly crowded social media market.
In a Tuesday Facebook post, Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said he had made the "difficult decision" to reduce the size of its recruiting team, whose members will be notified if they are impacted. The cuts this week, reflecting about 13% of Meta's workforce, will be followed by a restructuring of its tech and business groups in April and May, Zuckerberg said.
The company also plans to close about 5,000 job postings it hasn't filled yet, he said. The latest layoffs build on Meta's November workforce cuts that slashed 11,000 jobs, also about 13% of Meta's workforce, in the first widespread layoffs in company history. At its peak last year, Meta had 87,000 full-time employees.
"This will be tough and there's no way around that. It will mean saying goodbye to talented and passionate colleagues who have been part of our success," Zuckerberg said of the latest round of cuts. "We will support people in the same ways we have before and treat everyone with the gratitude they deserve."
Zuckerberg has hinted at additional layoffs since at least January, emphasizing the company's need to improve efficiency and trim middle management, during internal and external forums.
Like many internet platforms that make money from digital advertising, Meta is encountering economic challenges. The company is facing intensifying competition for advertising dollars and users from newer entrants in the social media market such as the short-form video network TikTok, based in China.
Some digital advertisers have reduced spending on social media ads because inflation has created too much market instability. Meanwhile, the Menlo Park, Calif.-based Meta and other tech companies over-hired early during the coronavirus pandemic, having experienced a boom during government-driven shutdowns.
Zuckerberg has since pledged that 2023 will be the "year of efficiency" as the company seeks to trim middle management and speed up its decision-making.
"A leaner org will execute its highest priorities faster. People will be more productive, and their work will be more fun and fulfilling," Zuckerberg said in the Tuesday post. "We will become an even greater magnet for the most talented people."
Meta's downsizing also comes at a chaotic time for the tech industry, after the stunning collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, which catered to tech start-ups. It was the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history. The implosion set off a three-day saga in which start-up founders warned they were unable to make payroll or would be forced into making layoffs if their funds were frozen.
Though the crisis was averted by the U.S. government's announcement late Sunday that it will guarantee at-risk deposits, the tech sector is still slashing tens of thousands of jobs. About 1,532 tech companies have laid off 289,613 workers in 2022 and 2023, according to Layoffs.fyi, an online layoff tracker for the tech sector. In addition to Meta, Google and Amazon have cut their workforces.
In addition to the cuts, Zuckerberg said that leaders of various divisions will be announcing restructuring plans intended to deflate the company's hierarchy, cancel lower-priority projects and reduce its pace of hiring. Inside the company, some expect reassigned workers to quit, creating attrition by default, The Post reported in February.
Despite its economic challenges, Meta -- which changed its name from Facebook more than a year ago -- is still investing in its big bet to build out immersive digital realms known as the metaverse. Zuckerberg argues people will want to work, shop and socialize through augmented and virtual-reality-powered devices, which he thinks will become the next great computing platform after mobile phones.
But Meta has struggled to grow the audience for virtual reality, in part because the company is still developing the underlying technology and a wider range of applications that would expand its appeal. Meta has said it expects operating losses for Reality Labs, the division working on VR hardware offerings such as the Quest headsets, to grow in 2023.
Information for this article was contributed by Mike Isaac of The New York Times.