The self-described “year of efficiency” of Mark Zuckerberg continues with an alleged second round of massive layoffs at Meta, just months after the company’s first-ever major cutback, which affected 11,000 employees.
The Silicon Valley tech giant, which owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and the failing Meta Quest VR system, may fire thousands of employees this week if Zuckerberg, who is scheduled to go on paternity leave for his third child, gives his final approval. Bloomberg was the first to report the news.
The layoffs, according to the Bloomberg report, are not part of a broader “flattening” and reduction of middle managers at the company; rather, they are the result of the company’s desire to achieve financial goals.
The report also says that morale has been low at the company, and employees are worried about missing out on their annual bonuses if they are fired before they are paid out.
SFGATE requested confirmation of the Bloomberg report’s specifics from a spokesperson for Meta.
The Financial Times published a worrying report in February, claiming that Meta’s productivity was halted due to budget approval delays, which would lead to additional layoffs.
Meta has faced a particular subset of difficulties in addition to the larger macroeconomic difficulties. The incessant push for Quest goggles and the Horizon Worlds “metaverse,” Zuckerberg’s virtual reality fantasy, has failed to gain traction despite significant marketing efforts and even greater investments. The company also suffered from the shifting digital ad economy, experiencing its first decline in ad revenue in 2022 as the industry continues to be affected by Apple’s privacy protections.
However, not all employees are pessimistic regarding the layoffs. On the anonymous job board Blind, a Meta employee stated, “Every morning I wake up and pray it’s me so I can travel.”