Meta, the company that owns Facebook, has cut jobs across its business and operations units. This is part of a three-part plan announced in March to eliminate 10,000 roles. Dozens of employees working in marketing, program management, content strategy, and corporate communications were sacked. The social media giant also cut employees from its units focused on privacy and integrity. The latest cuts are likely to impact around 490 employees at its international headquarters in Dublin, almost 20% of its Irish workforce.
Meta’s layoffs followed months of waning revenue growth amid high inflation and a digital ad pullback from the pandemic e-commerce boom. The company has been pouring billions of dollars into its metaverse-oriented Reality Labs unit, which lost $13.7 billion in 2022, and a project to improve its infrastructure to support artificial intelligence work.
The cuts have hit non-engineering roles most heavily. Zuckerberg has pledged to restructure business teams and return to a more optimal ratio of engineers to other roles. Overall, the company’s shares closed marginally up in a broadly weaker market. They have more than doubled in value this year and are among the top performers in the S&P 500 index, thanks to the cost-cutting drive and Meta’s focus on artificial intelligence.
Two top executives in key market India were let go. The two executives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
