Meta will start laying off THOUSANDS of workers next week in fresh round of mass cuts during Mark Zuckerberg’s ‘year of efficiency’
- Meta announced the latest cuts, which could affect up to 6,000 employees in the business departments, in a Q&A session with employees on Thursday
- Zuckerberg previously warned there would be another round of layoffs in May but it was not clear exactly when or how many workers would be impacted
- It comes after Meta cut 4,000 roles in its tech department in April after previously getting rid of 11,000 jobs in November
Meta is slashing thousands more jobs next week in the third round layoffs as billionaire owner Mark Zuckerberg keeps his promise to make 2023 a ‘year of efficiency’ for the firm.
The parent company of Facebook and Instagram announced the latest cuts in a question and answer session with employees on Thursday.
It will impact Meta’s business departments and could affect up to 6,000 employees.
Zuckerberg had previously warned in March there would be another round of layoffs in May but it was not clear exactly when or how many workers would be impacted.
It comes after Meta cut 4,000 roles in its tech department in April after previously getting rid of 11,000 jobs in November.
Meta is slashing thousands more jobs next week in the third round layoffs as billionaire owner Mark Zuckerberg keeps his promise to make 2023 a ‘year of efficiency’ for the firm
The parent company of Facebook and Instagram announced the latest cuts in a question and answer session with employees on Thursday
The company’s stock price has seen huge growth since the start of the year and has grown by an incredible 96.8 per cent to $245.48 per share as of May 24
Meta’s president of global affairs Nick Clegg told employees the third round of layoffs would begin next week during a company-wide meeting which Vox obtained a recording of.
‘The third wave is going to happen next week. That affects everybody in the biz teams, including in my orgs,’ he said.
‘It’s just a time of great anxiety and uncertainty. … I wish I could have some easy way of providing solace or comfort. It is uncertain.
‘And actually it’s really increased my admiration for the way that everyone — notwithstanding that uncertainty — you’re just displaying such resilience and professionalism.’
Clegg said the cuts will follow a similar process to the second round of layoffs which saw 4,000 people lose their jobs.
On the afternoon before the layoffs happen, Meta’s head of people will provide employees with details about when it will begin and which teams will be impacted.
Those who are affected will be notified followed by those whose roles are not.
And the company will request all employees ‘whose job allows’ to work from home, according to Clegg.
He did not confirm exactly how many jobs will be cut this time but Zuckerberg revealed Meta planned to cut 10,000 roles in 2023.
There are potentially 6,000 positions on the line for the latest round of layoffs as the tech company tries to reach its target. Meta had around 86,000 employees at the end of 2022.
The 11,000 roles eliminated in November were the first ever major layoffs at Meta and marked an 11 percent reduction in the workforce.
Zuckerberg had previously warned staff that 2023 will be a ‘year of efficiency’ and this ethos has been drilled into them at team meetings and in performance reviews.
It came after Meta suffered three straight periods in which revenue declined but it saw first-quarter sales for 2023 rise three per cent to $28.6billion compared to the same period in 2022.
The latest round of layoffs will impact Meta’s business departments and could affect up to 6,000 employees
It comes after Meta cut 4,000 roles in its tech department in April after previously getting rid of 11,000 jobs in November
The company’s stock price has seen huge growth since the start of the year and has grown by an incredible 96.8 per cent to $245.48 per share as of May 24.
It continued to rise as news of the latest round of cuts was revealed.
Amid the sweeping cuts, one part of the business has enjoyed an increased to its budgets – Zuckerberg’s hefty private security bill.
The 38-year-old, whose net worth is estimated to be $68.4 billion, received a 40 percent rise in his pre-tax security allowance from $10 million to $14 million. The hike was signed off by Meta’s board of directors.
That will cover just under half of his roughly $25 million annual security bill, according to reports.
Meta has yet to comment on reports about the latest round of cuts, which come at a volatile time for the world’s largest tech companies.
A ‘tech wreck’ has been sweeping Silicon Valley this year with almost 200,00 jobs paying a combined $12 billion annually wiped out so far.
This has already surpassed the 165,000 jobs cut for the whole of 2022, according to analysis from Layoffs.fyi, which tracks firings in real time through information gleaned in media and company releases.
Tech firms have struggled to rein in costs, as economic uncertainty has slowed sales growth over the past year.
Amazon has laid off 27,000 employees this year, Twitter laid off around 3,900 employees, half its workforce, following Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover and Microsoft announced in January it would be cutting 10,000 jobs.
The layoffs are part of ways for tech companies to cut costs with some cutting back on freebies and employees perks.
Google cut back its cafe opening hours, reduced how often staff can get their laptops replaced and curbed employee travel.
And there was a pause on free massages, closed its on-campus shuttle buses and fitness centers.
Tech job cuts – including mass layoffs at Meta and Twitter
A slew of tech companies have announced cost-cutting measures, with Amazon, Apple and Google-parent Alphabet all announcing hiring slowdowns or freezes.
For the sector, the pandemic boom turned to a post-pandemic bust, as rising interest rates batter share prices and inflation cuts into profits.
A ‘tech wreck’ has been sweeping Silicon Valley this year with almost 200,00 jobs paying a combined $12 billion annually wiped out so far.
This has already surpassed the 165,000 jobs cut for the whole of 2022, according to analysis from Layoffs.fyi, which tracks firings in real time through information gleaned in media and company releases.
Meta
In March, the company announced it would deliver another roughly 10,000 job cuts in the coming months and cease recruiting for the 5,000 positions it had been trying to fill.
The Facebook-parent said in November it would cut 13 percent of its workforce, or more than 11,000 employees, in one of the biggest tech layoffs this year as it grapples with a weak advertising market and mounting costs.
It cut 4,000 roles in its tech department in April in a second round of layoffs with a third round of cuts announced in May.
Meta cut 13 percent of its workforce, or more than 11,000 employees, in November 2022
Like its peers, Meta aggressively hired during the pandemic to meet a surge in social media usage by stuck-at-home consumers.
But but the pandemic boom-times petered out as advertisers and consumers pull the plug on spending in the face of soaring costs and rapidly rising interest rates.
After plunging billions into CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s Metaverse vision with little to show for it, Meta has been faced with rising costs and shrinking profits.
Meta, once worth more than $1 trillion, lost around 70 percent of its value last year alone. Stocks have bounced back in 2023 but remained below their peak at the beginning on March.
‘Not only has online commerce returned to prior trends, but the macroeconomic downturn, increased competition, and ads signal loss have caused our revenue to be much lower than I’d expected,’ Zuckerberg said in a message to employees.
‘I got this wrong, and I take responsibility for that.’
Zuckerberg delivered the grim news about job cuts on a call with hundreds of Meta executives
On a short call, a red-eyed Zuckerberg addressed employees but took no questions.
He stuck to a script that closely followed the wording in the morning’s blogpost and called the increased investments in e-commerce a ‘big mistake in planning.’
Twitter laid off half its workforce across teams ranging from communications and content curation to product and engineering following Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover.
The cutbacks affected roughly 3,700 employees, who learned their fate by email last year.
Its massive job cuts continued in February with another 200 jobs culled, taking its staff count to under 2,000.
Twitter laid off half its workforce across teams ranging from communications and content curation to product and engineering
Musk previously said there was no other choice but to impose mass layoffs as the company loses hundreds of millions of dollars every year and needs a financial overhaul
Salesforce
In January, cloud-based software company Salesforce announced it will layoff 10 percent of its employees or about 8,000 workers.
CEO Marc Benioff cited a rough period for the tech sector as well as over-hiring during COVID-19 leading to the decision.
‘Our sales performance process drives accountability. Unfortunately, that can lead to some leaving the business, and we support them through their transition,’ a Salesforce spokesperson said.
Salesforce had 73,541 employees at the beginning of last year – it is the largest employer in the San Francisco area.
The company said in an August filing that headcount rose 36 percent in the past year ‘to meet the higher demand for services from our customers.’
Amazon
Amazon said it would layoff 18,000 corporate and technology jobs what will be the largest job cuts in the company’s history.
The move comes as the company reportedly lost $1trillion over the year after its stock plummeted from a high during the pandemic.
And CEO Andy Jassy told staff in March another 9,000 jobs would be cut.
If the company goes through with its proposal to cut 10,000 jobs, it would lose about 3 percent of Amazon’s corporate employees
The move comes after the company put a hiring freeze in place, affecting major teams including Prime Video, Alexa and Amazon Fresh.
‘We’re facing an unusual macroeconomic environment, and want to balance our hiring and investments with being thoughtful about this economy,’ Beth Galetti, senior vice president of people experience and technology at Amazon, wrote in a memo.
Intel
Intel Corp’s CEO Pat Gelsinger told Reuters ‘people actions’ would be part of a cost-reduction plan.
The chipmaker said recently it would reduce costs by $3 billion in 2023, then ramping that up to $10 billion by 2025.
The adjustments would start in the fourth quarter, Gelsinger said, but did not specify how many employees would be affected.
Some Intel divisions, including the sales and marketing group, could be cut by up to 20 percent, Bloomberg News reported, citing people with knowledge of the situation.
Intel confirmed layoffs would take place across the company in May but declined to reveal how many employees would be affected.
Chipmaker Intel is reportedly planning major layoffs, likely numbering in the thousands, in the face of a slowdown in the personal computer market
The company had 113,700 employees as of July, when it slashed its annual sales forecast by $11 billion after missing estimates for second-quarter results.
Intel, based in Santa Clara, California declined to comment on the job cuts when reached by DailyMail.com in October.
Intel has been battered by shifting market trends, including the decline of traditional personal computers as smartphones and tablets rise in popularity.
Last quarter, global PC shipments, including desktops and laptops, declined another 15 percent from a year ago, according to IDC.
Microsoft
Microsoft in January initiated layoffs of 10,000 employees, citing slowing customer demand and a negative economic environment.
‘We’re also seeing organizations in every industry and geography exercise caution as some parts of the world are in a recession and other parts are anticipating one,’ CEO Satya Nadella said in a company memo.
The layoffs affected nearly 5 percent of Microsoft’s global workforce.
It announced 158 more job cuts in May in addition to the 10,000 announced in January.
Microsoft previously laid off under 1,000 employees across several divisions last year, according to Axios.
In a statement, Microsoft executives said: ‘Like all companies, we evaluate our business priorities on a regular basis, and make structural adjustments accordingly.
Microsoft laid off under 1,000 employees across several divisions last month, according to Axios
‘We will continue to invest in our business and hire in key growth areas in the year ahead.’
Microsoft executives previously announced in July that it was laying off less than 1 percent of its workforce and significantly slow hiring, as its revenue fell short of investor expectations.
The company recorded only $51.9 billion in revenue during the second quarter of the year, but was expected to rake in $52.4 billion.
It had previously recorded blockbuster growth during the COVID pandemic, when consumers and businesses turned to its products as they shifted to a work-from-home model.
Lyft
Ride-hailing firm Lyft said it would lay off 26 percent of its workforce, or about 1,072 employees, after it already cut 60 jobs and froze hiring in September.
Lyft said in a regulatory filing it would likely incur $41 million to $47 million in restructuring charges related to the layoffs.
‘We are not immune to the realities of inflation and a slowing economy,’ Lyft’s founders wrote in the memo to staffers.
Ride-hailing firm Lyft said it would lay off 13 percent of its workforce, or about 683 employees, after it already cut 60 jobs earlier this year
The company’s share price has fallen 76 percent since the beginning of last year and was $7.96 on May 24, compared to nearly $45 in January 2022.
Lyft has about 4,000 employees, not including its drivers.
Spotify
The music streaming service said on January 22 it plans to cut 6% of its workforce, an estimated 588 employees from its 9,800 full time staff.
Spotify said it will incur about $38million in severance-related charges.
The company, whose CEO is Daniel Ek, said its chief content and advertising business officer Dawn Ostroff will also depart.
Spotify said on January 22 it plans to cut 6% of its workforce, an estimated 588 employees
Apple
Though Apple has not yet announced any major layoffs, CEO Tim Cook told CBS Mornings that it is slowing some hiring as well.
‘What we’re doing as a consequence of being in this period, is we’re being very deliberate in our hiring,’ he said. ‘That means we’re continuing to hire, but not everywhere in the company are we hiring.’
At the same time, though, Cook said ‘we don’t believe you can save your way to prosperity.”
‘We think you invest your way to it,’ he said.
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