Meta is reportedly downsizing its teams across WhatsApp, Instagram, and Reality Labs, among others. Many affected employees have shared their experiences on social media.
The company is looking to reallocate resources, which involves reassigning roles to employees and potentially relocating teams. Essentially, Meta is undergoing a restructuring process within certain departments. According to The Verge, these team-specific changes aim to align resources with the company’s long-term strategic goals and location strategy.
Job cuts at Meta began two years ago, when 11,000 employees were laid off. At that time, the cuts were attributed to overestimations of growth following the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, another 10,000 positions were eliminated as part of CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s efforts to focus on efficiency. The company cited over-hiring during a period of rapid growth and the necessity to remain competitive in the market as reasons for the layoffs, which mainly affected its human resources and recruitment departments. Zuckerberg also confirmed plans to eliminate an additional 5,000 open positions.
In the first week of October 2024, Reality Labs, Meta’s metaverse-oriented division, announced layoffs. The division, which develops custom silicon, shared this plan in an internal forum, followed by formal notifications to employees soon after.
