Meta Platforms Inc has kicked off its company-wide layoffs as part of its attempt to it restructure teams towards founder Mark Zuckerberg’s goal of greater efficiency.
The social media giant is said to be letting go of employees in technical roles in its second round of layoffs, CNBC reported.
The Facebook parent company notified managers earlier in the day to prepare the announcement of job cuts via a memo seen by Bloomberg News. It indicated that Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Reality Labs — which houses the firm’s virtual reality efforts and Quest hardware — will all be impacted.
The company is yet to release an official statement confirming the move.
Multiple employees took to LinkedIn to share the news of their lay-off.
NEW: Meta’s layoffs have impacted its integrity teams, which focus on issues like child safety, account security, and scam prevention. This morning, LinkedIn posts from former employees revealed that teams working on both WhatsApp & Instagram have faced cuts. pic.twitter.com/Z9E1PMnmG0— Tech Transparency Project (@TTP_updates) April 19, 2023
The move is part of a cost-cutting push that will eventually whittle away 10,000 positions at the company, as announced by Zuckerberg in March. A further round of cuts is set to follow in May.
Meta already cut about 13 percent of its workforce, or about 11,000 jobs, in November. It also extended a hiring freeze through the first quarter, which has been punctuated by job and cost cuts by other Silicon Valley businesses.
Zuckerberg’s comments have suggested that the company would aim to become leaner and rebalance its ratio of technologists and engineers to business and administrative staff.
The memo circulated to managers indicates that teams will be reorganized, and various remaining employees will be reassigned to work under new managers.
Meta will ask all North America employees, who can work from home to do so on Wednesday, in order to have time to process the news, the document said.
A company spokesperson declined to comment, pointing to Zuckerberg’s “year of efficiency” post in March that said “we expect to announce restructuring and layoffs in our tech groups in late April, and then our business groups in late May.”
(With agency inputs)