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What happened: Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, started laying off employees in technical positions on Wednesday as part of its latest round of job cuts. Those impacted so far include employees in software engineering, user experience, and gameplay and graphics programming. Meta is laying off product-facing teams this month before it begins cutting business-facing roles in May. What the numbers say: The company is expected to cut some 10,000 positions, affecting 12% of its full-time workforce, adding to the 11,000 workers it laid off starting in November. Meta, Google, Amazon, and other tech companies eliminated over 95,000 positions in 2022 and more than 170,000 so far in 2023. Since late 2022, Amazon and Meta have made the deepest job cuts at 27,000 and 21,000, respectively, according to tracker Layoffs.fyi. Relevance: During a recent earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg described 2023 as the "year of efficiency," in which Meta will focus on "becoming a stronger and more nimble organization.” The company is reducing its hiring rates and canceling low-priority projects. Zuckerberg said Meta may need to prepare for the possibility of a "new economic reality" for years, which could impact its services and products, including its long-term plans for the metaverse. |
