Meta is preparing a new big wave of layoffs. We need to cut back on experimentation and focus on AI to stay in the race.
Meta is preparing for a new restructuring, which will be accompanied by additional layoffs. And, unfortunately, they should be about the same scale as the previous wave last year, when almost 11,000 employees quit. Several waves of layoffs should follow in the coming months, according to The Wall Street Journal, and the numbers should be similar to those in November last year. The departure will not affect the engineering part, but the teams of the Reality Labs division responsible for the Meta hardware.
Meta is preparing a new big wave of layoffs
Menlo Park has already showcased some very impressive devices such as augmented reality glasses and wrist accessories for advanced augmented reality applications, and products such as smartwatches are also reportedly in development. However, it would seem that all this AI frenzy that has reached Microsoft and Google has also been invited to Meta, and the social media giant wants to stay in the race on this aspect. Since Facebook’s metaverse attempts have not (so far) generated the expected buzz in the industry, layoffs in the relevant divisions make sense. A few days ago
Reduce airfoil in experiments
It’s unclear if layoff notices have been issued for the first affected employees, but the company has already announced internally that it is shutting down its new product experimentation unit. In September 2022, Platformer reported that Meta was cutting NPE. Since its inception in 2019, the division has released many very short-lived products, such as a speed video dating app called Sparked, a calling app called CatchUp, collage tool E.gg, a rap social platform called BARS, and Hotline, which wanted to be Clubhouse. To name just a few.
Meta hasn’t officially confirmed this wave of layoffs, but executives have more or less mentioned it, according to the WSJ. “This will force us to make difficult decisions to cut certain projects in certain divisions and reallocate resources from one team to another,” said Susan Lee, CFO of Meta. The American giant will offer the same severance pay as last year. Internally, Meta will also restructure its team even further, bringing more employees together into cohesive teams and shrinking the separate office system to increase the number of shared spaces.