Visitors at Meta Headquarters in Menlo Park, California JUSTIN SULLIVAN (AFP)
Meta Platforms, Facebook’s parent company, is set to announce a massive layoff plan this week, according to sources familiar with the decision, cited by the Wall Street Journal on Sunday. The measure, which will be communicated from next Wednesday, would affect thousands of employees and comes days after the biggest downsizing Twitter has suffered, some 3,700 workers, half the workforce, following Elon Musk’s landing at the company. Meta’s plan could surpass Twitter’s in layoffs, though not by percentage, according to the same sources, and it would be the first major job cuts in Facebook’s 18-year history.
The company’s results had already been ringing alarm bells at the end of October. The group’s profit shrank 52% to $4,395 million in the third quarter of 2022. Those figures represented the second quarterly revenue drop in its history. Although revenue was 27,714, down 4% from the same period last year, the accounts caused a stock market crash, triggering a loss of a quarter of their value in the stock market, which fell by 24 .56% fell. And that meant losing about $89,000 million in a single day.
The cases of Meta and Twitter are different, but ultimately they are a symptom of the sector’s difficulties and ultimately the deterioration that the economy is experiencing. Meta’s traditional activities, which control Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp, among others, are stagnating, and there is also competition from other social networks such as TikTok or Apple’s blocking of advertising tracking.
Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s CEO, had already asked investors for patience, stating that it would take about a decade for Meta’s efforts and the development of the Metaverse to fully materialize. And weeks ago, at the same time as the results were presented, she announced that the company would be very selective about its goals in the coming year. “In 2023 we will focus our investments on a few high-priority growth areas. That means some work teams will grow significantly, but most will stagnate or shrink over the next year. Overall, we expect to end 2023 with the same size or even a slightly smaller organization than today.”
“Although we face near-term challenges, the fundamentals are in place to return to higher revenue growth. We approach 2023 with a focus on prioritization and efficiency that will help us navigate the current environment and emerge as an even stronger company.” At the end of September, Meta employed 87,314 people, up 28% year-on-year.
Musk asks workers to come back
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Meanwhile, in the frenzy unleashed on Twitter since Elon Musk’s takeover, trade media outlets have revealed that the company has begun asking some of the laid-off workers to return.
On the company’s Slack, the teamwork and messaging app, the company posted the following message: As revealed by Platformer: “Sorry to everyone. [por molestar] at the weekend, but I wanted to convey that we have the opportunity to ask some of those who didn’t come back if they could come back. I need to have the names and reasons together by 4pm on Sunday.” “I will do some research but if any of you have been in contact with people who could come back and who we think would help us, please do Names please before 4pm tomorrow,” he added.
According to Bloomberg, Twitter has already contacted dozens of laid-off employees, asking them to come back. Some were wrongly fired, according to two people familiar with the steps cited by the agency. Others were fired before management realized their work and experience could potentially be needed to develop the new features Musk plans to bring to market, the same sources said, asking not to be identified because the information is private be.
Twitter fired about 3,700 employees via email this week to cut costs. Many employees found out they had lost their jobs after their access to company-wide systems like email and Slack was suddenly suspended. Return requests from employees show how rushed and chaotic the process is.
Meanwhile, the tycoon continues to comment on his plans for Twitter on the social network itself. One of his projects is to improve the search engine, has said. At the same time, he has warned that anyone impersonating someone else will have their account permanently banned unless they make it clear on their profile. that it is a spoof account. Likewise has insured that those who wish to change their name after signing up for Twitter Blue in order to earn the blue certification mark will lose that award.
According to the New York Times, after registering the new service on Sunday at a cost of $7.99 a month, Twitter decided to suspend it until after this Tuesday’s general election to prevent falsely certified accounts from creeping in, which could disrupt the election process. Musk has not commented on the matter, although he tweeted that “Twitter must become by far the most accurate source of information on the world.” “This is our mission” has added.
The difficulty for the social network will be how to deal with the misinformation that often circulates on the network without jeopardizing Musk’s speech on freedom of expression, which he himself has already partly put into perspective. To demonstrate his commitment to this principle, the tycoon has stated that he will keep open the account that bothers him the most across the entire social network: “My commitment to freedom of expression extends even to the account that follows my plane , not to be banned. This is a direct risk to personal safety.” has tweeted.
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