Meta Platforms is set to start cutting jobs across the company on April 19 as it restructures teams and works toward founder Mark Zuckerberg’s goal of greater efficiency this year.
The Facebook parent company told managers that they should prepare for job cut announcements on Wednesday, according to a memo seen by Bloomberg News. The memo indicates Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Reality Labs — which houses the firm’s virtual reality efforts and Quest hardware — will be affected.
The move is part of a cost-cutting push that will eventually eliminate 10,000 positions at the company, as announced by Zuckerberg in March. A further round of cuts is set to follow in May.
Meta already cut about 13% of its workforce, or about 11,000 jobs, in November. It also extended a hiring freeze through the first quarter, adding to an industry-wide pullback in recruiting and spending across Silicon Valley. Meta in particular is aiming to become leaner and rebalance its ratio of technologists and engineers to business and administrative staff.
Meta shares fell 1.6% to US$214.41 ($286.33) in pre-market trading, tracking a broader decline in stocks.
The memo circulated to managers indicates that teams will be reorganised and some remaining employees will be reassigned to work under new managers. Meta asked that North American employees who can work from home do so on April 19 to process the news, the memo showed.
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Meta declined to comment on the memo, referring instead to a post that Zuckerberg made in March declaring 2023 the “year of efficiency” and setting a timetable in which to announce restructuring and layoffs in tech groups in late April and then in business groups in late May.
