Logo of Meta Platforms is seen in Davos
Reuters

KEY POINTS

  • About 4,000 people were laid off at Meta last month
  • In November 2022, 11,000 positions were eliminated
  • Meta's CTO said the company has no plans yet for additional layoffs after next week's cuts

Meta announced during a Q&A with staffers Thursday that it will push through with a new wave of employee layoffs starting next week, reports say.

"The third wave is going to happen next week. That affects everybody in the biz teams, including in my orgs," Meta president of global affairs Nick Clegg said in a recording of the meeting obtained by Vox.

"It's just a time of great anxiety and uncertainty. ... I wish I could have some easy way of providing solace or comfort. It is uncertain. And actually, it's really increased my admiration for the way that everyone — notwithstanding that uncertainty — you're just displaying such resilience and professionalism," Clegg added.

The latest layoffs are expected to impact Meta's business departments and affect thousands of employees.

Although Mark Zuckerberg previously said that there would be another round of layoffs in May, the exact timing of the layoffs was never revealed until that meeting, according to Vox.

"Real talk: We are still going through our layoffs and restructuring that you've heard all of our senior leaders mention," Meta director of internal communications Melinda Davenport said while hosting during the session.

"And while I know that it's a tough and tricky situation, we're going to try to answer all the questions that you may have. I just want you to understand that we may not have all the answers that you're searching for, but we're going to try our best today," she added.

Meta executives did not confirm the exact scope of this round of impending layoffs. But Zuckerberg said in March that the company was planning to eliminate 10,000 positions by the end of May, after previously cutting 11,000 in November 2022.

Just last month, Meta had begun cutting around 4,000 of the 10,000 jobs, leaving 6,000 positions vulnerable during the upcoming round.

The layoffs are said to be due to overhiring during the pandemic coupled with major shifts in the tech industry, which caused tech companies to tighten their belts after years of uninterrupted growth.

When an employee asked during the session if there will be more layoffs in the future, Meta's chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth said they "don't have anything planned."

"The plan is to continue as we have done for a long time as a company and go forth and build and grow," he said. "I can't tell you if the revenue tanks and the economy tanks or costs go up for some reason or some kind of thing happens. You know, I can't know the future."

Meta's layoffs are part of what Zuckerberg calls a "year of efficiency" in 2023, per Vox.

Meta Platforms Inc's logo is seen on a smartphone in this illustration picture
Reuters