New York (CNN) Facebook parent Meta on Wednesday began its latest round of layoffs targeting technical workers, who are often thought to be more resistant to job cuts in Silicon Valley.
Meta spokesperson Nkechi Nneji confirmed to CNN that some of the previously announced layoffs took place Wednesday, and pointed to CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement in March that the company would cut another 10,000 employees in the coming months. month.
Zuckerberg’s announcement said the changes and layoffs in Meta’s tech group will take place in April. Among those affected by Wednesday’s layoffs are members of the company’s sustainability, benefits, user experience, news feed and messaging teams, according to public LinkedIn posts.
Meta told North American employees to work from home on Wednesday in anticipation of the layoffs. (CNN has not independently verified that.)
Members of Meta’s recruiting team were notified of additional layoffs last month, and the cutbacks in the company’s business teams are expected to take place in late May.
The 10,000 job cuts mark the second recent round of significant job cuts in Meta (FB). The company said in November that it was eliminating approximately 13% of its workforce, or 11,000 jobs, in one of the largest round of cuts in its history.
In September, Meta reported a headcount of 87,314, per a securities filing. With the 11,000 job cuts announced in November and the 10,000 announced last month, Meta’s headcount will fall to around 66,000 – a total reduction of around 25%.
Meta said the layoffs are part of a “year of efficiency,” as the company tries to engineer a turnaround after repeated declines in revenue, increased competition, concerns about -user development and many losses at the Reality Labs division amid its pivot to build such. -called the metaverse. Zuckerberg also took responsibility for over-hiring early on the pandemic, when there was a strong demand for the company’s products and online advertising, which fell somewhat when the world reopened.
Zuckerberg said last month that, in some cases, it could take until the end of the year to complete the staffing process.
“When I talked about efficiency this year, I said that part of our work will include eliminating jobs – and that will be used in the service of both building a stronger, more technical company and improving in our business performance to enable our long-term. vision,” Zuckerberg said in his statement in March.
Meta is scheduled to report earnings for the first three months of 2023 next week, with Wall Street analysts expecting it to post its fourth consecutive quarterly profit decline. and more than 30% reduction in income. However, Meta shareholders appear to be reassured by Zuckerberg’s plans for efficiency – the company’s shares are up more than 70% year to date as of Wednesday midday.
