NEW YORK (Reuters) – Meta Platforms Inc (METAO) executed the final installment of a three-part round of layoffs on Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the matter, as part of a plan announced in March. To eliminate 10,000 turns.
Meta earlier this year became the first Big Tech company to announce a second round of mass layoffs, after opening the door to more than 11,000 employees in the fall. The cuts have reduced the company’s headcount to what it was as of around mid-2021, after a hiring spree that doubled its workforce since 2020.
Several employees working in teams such as marketing, recruiting, engineering and corporate communications took to LinkedIn on Wednesday to announce their layoffs.
Meta shares rose slightly in a broadly weaker market. It has more than doubled in value this year and is among the best performers in the S&P 500 (.SPX), thanks to its cost-cutting drive and Meta’s focus on artificial intelligence.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in March that the bulk of the company’s second-round layoffs would happen in three “moments” over several months, largely ending in May. He said some smaller rounds could continue after that.
In general, the cuts have affected non-engineering roles the most, cementing the primacy of those who write code in the Meta. Zuckerberg pledged in March to “significantly” restructure teams and return to a “better ratio of engineers to other roles”.
Even among cuts specifically targeting technology teams, the company has cut non-engineering roles like content design and user experience research aggressively, according to two executives who spoke at the company town hall afterward.
Zuckerberg said about 4,000 employees lost their jobs in layoffs in April, following the lesser hit to hiring teams in March.
The social media company said on Wednesday that the latest cuts will likely affect around 490 staff at its international headquarters in Dublin, or roughly 20% of the Irish workforce.
Two key market executives in India have also been let go — marketing director Avinash Pant and Saket J Saurabh, director and head of media partnerships — according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.
The two executives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Meta’s layoffs came after months of waning revenue growth amid rising inflation and a slump in digital advertising from the pandemic e-commerce boom.
The company has also poured 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 its AI business.
(Reporting by Katie Paul in New York). Editing by Kenneth Lee and Mark Porter
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