The wave of layoffs in technology continues. Metaparent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has announced the dismissal of 10,000 workers. Approximately 13% of the total workforce. The departures will begin this week and come just a few months after the technology company destroyed 13,000 jobs.
“My hope is to make these changes to the organization as early in the year as possible so that we can get through this period of uncertainty and focus on the critical work that lies ahead,” he said. Mark Zuckerberg executive director of the company in a statement published on his Facebook board and that, previously, had been shared with the workers.
The first layoffs will affect the company’s recruitment area. Later, between April and May, departures will be announced in the groups dedicated to technological and commercial activities. “This will be difficult and there is no way to avoid it,” remarked the executive, who also shared the company’s plans to eliminate job offers for 5,000 positions that remained vacant.
Zuckerberg has signaled in recent months that the company wants to turn the present 2023 in “the year of efficiency”. This happens by reducing costs and trying to maximize as much as possible the work that is done. The company has plans to eliminate many middle positions and reduce layers of leadership. He also plans to put an end to expendable projects. “In hindsight, I underestimated the indirect costs of lower priority projects,” the executive acknowledged.
The company, which like so many other technology companies overcontracted during the pandemic, has been facing the slowdown in the advertising business, the most important for the company, for more than a year. Part of the blame lies with the growing competition, among which the application of Chinese origin TikTok stands out, which has long been ranked as the favorite social network for younger users.
The company is also being affected by the current economic situation, which has caused many advertisers to reduce their investment in advertising.
It should also be remembered that the technology company has been investing non-refundable funds for a little over a year, at least to date, in the construction of this new virtual world known as metaverso. To date, Reality Labs, the firm within the company in charge of its creation, has not stopped dragging millions in losses. However, the technology company remains determined to invest in its development and in the manufacture of new virtual reality and augmented reality devices.
The company continues to think that the future lies in the creation of the metaverse. However, it also recently announced that it plans to increase its work on the development of generative artificial intelligence such as the popular chatbot ChatGPT. An area in which other technology companies intend to invest and in which, on paper, Microsoft and Google currently lead.
