Facebook-parent Meta plans to lay off thousands of employees this week

According to US media reports, Facebook-parent Meta will be the latest tech firm to reduce its workforce, with plans to lay off thousands of employees this week.

According to the Wall Street Journal, which cited sources familiar with the situation, the layoffs could affect “tens of thousands” of Meta employees, with an announcement expected as soon as Wednesday.

Meta had approximately 87,000 employees worldwide as of September 30 across its various platforms, which included social media sites Facebook and Instagram, as well as messaging platform Whatsapp.

In his announcement of Meta’s disappointing third-quarter results, CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that the company’s workforce would not grow and might even decrease slightly by the end of 2023.

The latest Meta plans follow recent announcements by other tech firms to freeze or reduce hiring as the industry battles economic headwinds.

Stripe and Lyft announced large-scale layoffs last Thursday, while Amazon announced a hiring freeze in its corporate offices.

Twitter, which Elon Musk recently purchased, abruptly fired roughly half of its 7500 employees last week.

As advertisers struggle with inflation and rising interest rates, ad-supported platforms such as Facebook and Alphabet’s Google are suffering from budget cuts.

In the third quarter, Meta’s profits fell 52 percent year on year to $4.4 billion.

Meta’s stock price dropped 25% in one day as a result of the disappointing results.

Over the last year, the company’s market value has dropped to $600 billion.

Aside from its ad-supported business woes, investors have been concerned about Zuckerberg’s decision to invest heavily in developing the metaverse.

Main Image: Mark Zuckerberg/ Arabian Business