Meta to begin widespread job cuts on Wednesday

SAN FRANCISCO – Facebook parent Meta Platforms is planning to begin

widespread job cuts on Wednesday,

according to sources familiar with the matter, as part of a plan to reduce costs at the social media giant following disappointing earnings and a drop in revenue.

Employees who are affected will be told from Wednesday morning, and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg spoke to executives on Tuesday to prepare them for the cuts, said the sources, who asked not to be identified discussing private information.

On the executive call, Mr Zuckerberg said he was accountable for the company’s “missteps”, according to Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

An internal announcement of the company’s layoff plans is expected at around 6am Eastern Time (7pm Singapore time) on Wednesday.

A Meta spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mr Zuckerberg warned staff in late September that Meta intended to slash expenses and restructure teams. The Menlo Park, California-based firm, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, implemented a hiring freeze, and the CEO said Meta expected headcount to be smaller in 2023 than in 2022.

The cuts are expected to affect about 10 per cent of the company, which employed more than 87,000 as at Sept 30, according to Insider.

The reductions, part of the first major budget cut since the founding of Facebook in 2004, reflect a sharp slowdown in digital advertising revenue, an economy wobbling on the brink of recession and Mr Zuckerberg’s heavy investment in a speculative virtual reality push called the metaverse.

“This is obviously a different mode than we’re used to operating in,” said Mr Zuckerberg in a Q&A session with employees in September. “For the first 18 years of the company, we grew quickly basically every year, and then more recently, our revenue has been flat to slightly down for the first time. So we have to adjust.”

Meta’s head of human resources Lori Goler said staff who lose their jobs will be provided with at least four months of salary as severance, the WSJ reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Meta’s job reductions follow cutbacks at Twitter last week, which saw the company cut roughly 50 per cent of its workforce following its sale to billionaire Elon Musk.

Those layoffs were chaotic, with many finding out they had lost their jobs when they were suddenly cut off from instant messaging platform Slack or e-mail.

Mr Musk said the moves were necessary to stem losses at the social network. He later asked some workers who were fired to return.

Snap, parent of rival app Snapchat, is also scaling back, saying in August that it would eliminate 20 per cent of its workforce.

BLOOMBERG, REUTERS