Meta let go of thousands of employees on Wednesday, November 9.
At the end of September, Meta reported that they employed a whopping 87,000 people. These layoffs will cut a large portion of staff members, leaving many without employment. These cuts are expected to hit harder than the Twitter layoffs that hurt around half of the company’s 7,500 employees.
The layoffs didn’t come without warning, however. Meta’s Chief Product Officer, Chris Cox, warned workers of tough times in June. That still isn’t enough time for many to get alternative jobs, which is an unfortunate reality. Cox also told employees to execute their duties “flawlessly” in an environment of less growth.
Mark Zuckerberg also weighed in earlier this year, stating that a lot of the employees probably didn’t deserve to work at Meta. Geez, Mark. In September, the billionaire and Meta founder implemented a hiring freeze, warning the company would inevitably downsize in the very near future.
In the company’s earnings call last month, Zuckerberg noted that they’ll focus future investments on a few smaller and more high-priority areas of the company. This led to him saying that there will be areas of the company that see growth and areas that will eventually flatline, meaning many jobs would be out of the picture. He predicted that by the end of 2023, Meta will either be the same size or slightly smaller than the company we know today. At this rate, it’s looking like it’ll be smaller.
Zuckerberg claims that Facebook has more active users than ever before, but investors are feeling cautious about the costly bet on the Metaverse. This past quarter, Meta lost over $3.5 billion, and a total of $9.4 billion just this year. The company’s stock trading price is also the lowest it’s been since around 2016. With investors not exactly running to Metaverse, this leaves a lot in the open about the future of the company. If Meta is already losing this much, what does that mean for smaller companies that are having trouble staying afloat right now?
Macie LaCau is a passionate writer, herbal educator, and dog enthusiast. She spends most of her time overthinking and watering her tiny tomatoes.
