CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta will lay off about 10,000 employees and 5,000 vacant positions in the coming months. The reduction is part of Zuckerberg’s “Year of Efficiency” plan, 11,000 people were laid off last November.
Zuckerberg shared his announcement FacebookI briefly described some of Meta’s restructuring timelines. The layoffs will begin tomorrow, March 15, with the team’s recruitment, but other employees will see if positions are cut in his April and he in May. In some cases, these changes may not be made until the end of 2023, and international teams may not share the same timeline, Zuckerberg noted.
The headcount reductions also come with plans to close 5,000 openings and a sweeping reorganization of Meta. Zuckerberg’s statement articulates some of the guiding principles of the meta strategy. For example, “flat is faster” regarding the new management structure, and “lean is better” referring to last year’s cuts.
“One of the surprising results since we cut headcount last year is that a lot of things have gone faster. Zuckerberg writes.“Lean organizations get their top priorities done faster. People are more productive and work is more fun and fulfilling. That’s why in the Year of Efficiency we cancel duplicate and low-priority projects and focus on making every organization as lean as possible.”
Zuckerberg called 2022 a “humble wake-up call” when describing the performance and the “challenging economic environment.”
“I think we need to prepare for the possibility that this new economic reality will last for years,” Zuckerberg continued. “Higher interest rates will make the economy leaner, geopolitical instability more volatile, and tighter regulation will lead to slower growth and higher costs of innovation. We need to operate efficiently rather than downsizing, and we will make sure we succeed.”
Zuckerberg said feedback from last fall’s 11,000 layoffs led to an earlier announcement so he could be “more transparent sooner.”
Including the layoffs last November, Meta’s total layoffs over the next few months will total about 21,000, or about 24% of its workforce.The company joins other tech giants such as microsoft, twitterand Google In a series of cuts that left tens of thousands of people out of work.
Andrea Shearon is a freelance contributor for IGN covering games and entertainment. She’s worn several hats during her seven-year career in the games industry, including Fanbyte, USA Today’s FTW, TheGamer, VG247, and her RPG byline on her site. Find her on her Twitter (@ Majora) or the Materia Possessions podcast to chat about series including FFXIV, RPGs, and giant robots.
