Facebook’s parent company, Meta, is reportedly planning large-scale layoffs this week.
According to a report by Wall Street Journal citing insider sources, the layoffs could affect thousands of people. An announcement is likely this Wednesday.
This is coming barely a week after Twitter announced mass layoffs of almost half of its workforce.
Apprehension grips workers: At the end of September this year, Meta reported having 87,314 employees, up 28% from a year ago. It is unclear how many of these workers will be let go. The report said company officials already told employees to cancel nonessential travel beginning this week.
Meta’s profit decline: Last month, Meta posted a 50% slide in quarterly profits and its second straight sales decline. The company said at the time that it would make some changes to operate efficiently, including shrinking some teams and hiring only priority workers.
Mr. Zuckerberg has been signaling tough times ahead for the company. In July, he told employees that the company was facing the toughest times in its history and that workers should prepare to do more work with fewer resources. He said their performances would
- “I think some of you might decide that this place isn’t for you, and that self-selection is OK with me. Realistically, there are probably a bunch of people at the company who shouldn’t be here,” he said.
Several tech firms are now feeling the pinch of the tough economic situation globally, forcing them to downsize.