- The layoffs could begin this week and could affect thousands of employees.
- The cost reduction comes on top of previously announced plans to lay off 13% of meta-workers.
- Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg calls 2023 the “Year of Efficiency.”
Mark Zuckerberg, Chief Executive Officer of Meta Platforms Inc., left, arrives in federal court in San Jose, California, Tuesday, December 20, 2022.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Meta is planning another round of layoffs that could affect thousands of workers, according to a Bloomberg News report published Monday night.
The job cuts could start this week and represent another round of layoffs, adding to the 13% of metaworkers laid off under a major cost-cutting plan announced in November.
A meta spokesman declined to comment on the report to CNBC.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has previously hinted that the social networking giant will focus this year on efforts to cut the company’s costs, proclaiming 2023 the “Year of Efficiency.” He told analysts in February that Meta was focused on “cutting projects that aren’t working or might no longer be critical” and that it plans to “remove layers of middle management to make decisions faster.”
The cost-cutting efforts come at a challenging time for the consumer technology company, which said its costs and expenses rose 22% year over year to $25.8 billion in the fourth quarter, while total revenue rose 4% to $32 billion has declined.
Meta’s core online advertising business continues to face hurdles due to factors including a tough digital advertising market, the ongoing impact of Apple’s 2021 iOS privacy update, and increasing competition from ByteDance-owned TikTok.
Meanwhile, the company continues to invest heavily in the development of the Metaverse, which Meta believes could represent the next frontier for mainstream computing. The company’s Reality Labs division, tasked with building the virtual reality and augmented reality technologies required for the Metaverse, had revenue of $727 million in the fourth quarter but also reported an operating loss of 4, $28 billion.
Zuckerberg has said he will “take ownership” of the company’s previously announced cost-cutting plans and said he views layoffs “as a last resort.”
“We’re restructuring teams to be more efficient,” Zuckerberg said last fall as Meta announced layoffs. “But these actions alone won’t align our spending with our revenue growth, so I’ve also made the tough decision to let people go.”
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