Meta Plans To Lay Off Thousands of Its Employees This Week

Meta is back at it again with the layoffs.

The California-based tech giant is reportedly planning to initiate another round of layoffs this week as part of its efforts to remain true to its "year of efficiency."

The company previously laid off 11,000 employees in Nov. 2022 to offset its spending and become a "leaner and more efficient" company.

Meta March 2023 Layoffs Details

Meta is allegedly looking to lay off thousands of its employees in what could be its second major layoff since its first in Nov. 2022, per Bloomberg's sources familiar with the matter.

According to the publication sources, who asked not to be named as the information they shared was an internal matter, said that the upcoming layoffs are driven by financial targets and are separate from the "flattening," CEO Mark Zuckerberg's way of reorganizing Meta's management structure, per Fortune.

CNET's report supports the sources' information, with the layoffs being the consequence of advertisers pulling back spending amid economic uncertainty and the fact that the company's investment in the metaverse and artificial intelligence is costing it heavily.

According to CNBC, Meta's core online advertising business continues to face hurdles due to the lingering effects of Apple's iOS privacy update and TikTok's pull on the advertising and social media market. Apple's iOS privacy update limits digital advertisers' tracking capabilities and enables iPhone users to disable data sharing on their phones, per Interesting Engineering.

Additionally, the company has been doubling down on using AI to recommend videos or posts that users could be interested in on its social media platforms, Facebook and Instagram.

As a result of these factors, the company is asking its directors and vice presidents to make lists of employees they can let go. This planning could be finalized next week, though it could end earlier as Zuckerberg is scheduled to go on parental leave for his third child.

Meta's Year Of Efficiency

While the amount of people Meta might be letting go is estimated to be in the thousands, the fact that Meta may soon go through another round of layoffs is not surprising since Zueckerberg's announcement of the "Year of efficiency."

Many at Meta's headquarters were described to have heightened anxiety and low morale due to their worries about their job's security despite some of them not working at all. Others are worried about whether they'd get their bonuses in time, since it's scheduled to go out sometime in March/

Meta CEO previously admitted that he overestimated the boom in e-commerce and had to cut jobs as a "last resort," according to Business Insider. According to the Meta CEO, the layoffs he executed in November were "some of the most difficult changes" they've ever made in the company's history, and he would take responsibility for the company's previously announced cost-cutting plans.

Meta's layoffs are expected to continue well into the year until it becomes leaner and more efficient to make it profitable again. According to Zuckerberg, flattening Meta's organizational structure and removing some layers of middle management will make decisions faster.