Facebook parent Meta reportedly to start laying off thousands of staff this week

By Shiyin Chen

Meta Platforms Inc. is planning to begin layoffs this week that will affect thousands of workers, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

The job cuts at Facebook’s parent could come as early as Wednesday, the newspaper said. The company has already told employees to cancel non-essential travel from this week, according to the report.

The newspaper reported that while the percentage of the company’s 87,000 workers cut may be relatively small, the number of people who lose their jobs could be the largest total at one tech company this year. The report noted that Meta went on a hiring spree during the pandemic, adding 27,000 workers in 2020 and 2021 and another 15,344 in the first nine months of this year.

Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg in September outlined plans to reorganize teams and reduce headcount for the first time, following a sharp slowdown in growth at the parent of Facebook and Instagram. Zuckerberg said then that Meta will likely be smaller in 2023 than it was this year.

The layoffs come as Meta struggles with growing losses and as it invests heavily in developing its metaverse business. Its shares have fallen 73% this year.

The cuts will add to already mounting job losses in Silicon Valley. Twitter Inc. last week slashed nearly 3,700 positions after Elon Musk completed his $44 billion takeover of the social media platform. Other companies that have also reduced their workforce or announced plans to include ridehailing firm Lyft Inc. and hard-drive maker Seagate Technology Holdings Plc.

A spokesman for Meta declined to comment to The Journal.

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