Meta lay-offs: Facebook owner to cut 10,000 staff.

Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has announced plans to cut 10,000 jobs.

It will be the tech company's second wave of mass layoffs, following the layoff of 11,000 employees in November.

The cuts, which are part of a "year of efficiency," will be "tough," according to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

In addition to the 10,000 job cuts, he informed employees that 5,000 vacancies at the company would go unfilled.

Mr Zuckerberg told employees in a memo that the company had received a "humbling wake-up call" in 2022 when revenue fell dramatically.

Meta previously announced that earnings were down 4% year on year in the three months to December 2022, but it still managed to make a profit of more than $23 billion in 2022.

Mr Zuckerberg cited higher interest rates in the United States, global geopolitical instability, and increased regulation as factors influencing Meta and contributing to the slowdown.

"I believe we should brace ourselves for the possibility that this new economic reality will last for a long time," he said.

The latest job cuts come as companies such as Google and Amazon struggle to balance cost-cutting measures with the need to remain competitive.

Amazon announced at the start of this year that it planned to cut more than 18,000 jobs due to "the uncertain economy" and rapid hiring during the pandemic, while Alphabet, Google's parent company, cut 12,000 jobs.

According to layoffs.fyi, a website that tracks job losses in the tech industry, more than 128,000 jobs have been cut in the tech industry so far in 2023.

Timeline for cuts

Mr. Zuckerberg stated that the recruitment team would be the first to be informed of the layoffs, and that they would find out on Wednesday.

"We expect to announce restructurings and layoffs in our tech groups in late April 2023, and then in our business groups in late May 2023," he wrote in a memo to staff on Tuesday.

"In a small number of cases, it may take through to the end of the year to complete these changes.

"Our timelines for international teams will also differ, and local leaders will provide additional information."

Unfortunately, we've grown accustomed to hearing about major tech layoffs as the industry's titans continue to tighten their belts.

Many people, including Meta, make the majority of their money from advertising. They are now confronted with a perfect storm of falling ad revenues from companies with their own bills to pay, as well as a user base with less money to spend, making existing ad space less valuable.

It's worth noting that Meta is looking to its recruitment team in the latest round of layoffs.

I frequently hear that Silicon Valley firms over-recruit for two reasons. First and foremost, so that they can handle any unexpected growth that may occur (just look at TikTok). Second, they want to keep the "top tech talent" that they don't want working for their competitors.

Both appear to be luxuries that are no longer affordable.

Meta faces the additional risk of Mark Zuckerberg's massive bet on the metaverse being The Next Big Thing. If he is correct, his company will reclaim its throne; if he is incorrect, the $15 billion+ dollars he has spent on it thus far could vanish in a puff of mixed reality smoke.

Mr Zuckerberg said there would be no new hires until the restructuring was complete, adding that he aimed to make the company "flatter" by "removing multiple layers of management".

He also made a note of hybrid work in his correspondence. His claims that software engineers who joined Meta in person performed better than those who joined remotely, suggest hybrid working will come under scrutiny during the current "year of efficiency".

"Earlier in their careers, engineers perform better on average when they work in person with teammates at least three days a week," Mr Zuckerberg wrote.

"We're focusing on understanding this further, and finding ways to make sure people build the necessary connections to work effectively.

"In the meantime, I encourage you to seek out more opportunities to collaborate with your colleagues in person."