Meta reportedly set to lay off thousands of employees

Social media giant Meta is reportedly getting ready to lay off more employees in an effort to reorganize and downsize the company, according to the Washington Post.

The parent company of Facebook and Instagram is planning to reassign certain leaders into lower roles without direct reporting to create a more streamlined organization structure, with fewer layers of management between CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the interns at the company. The move is expected to affect thousands of employees.

In July last year, Meta announced that it would cut its hiring plans due to the post-pandemic global economic slowdown. “If I had to bet, I’d say that this might be one of the worst downturns that we’ve seen in recent history,” said Zuckerberg at the time.

In late September, he said that they would freeze hiring, reduce headcount and reorganize teams citing the economic uncertainty. Days after that, the company laid off 11,000 employees, which was its first-ever mass headcount reduction in its 18-year history.

While Meta hasn’t shared a comment about the Washington Post’s report, which suggests that the layoffs would come after the CEO predicted no more job cuts, the company’s Policy Communication Director Andy Stone shared some of Zuckerberg’s previous statements, arguing that Zuckerberg didn’t say such a thing and more job cuts could be on the horizon.

Following the rumors, Meta’s shares dropped by around 0.5% on Wednesday. The company, which was once valued at $1 trillion, currently has a valuation of $446 billion. 

Earlier this week, Meta announced that it would launch a Twitter Blue-like monthly subscription plan for Facebook and Instagram users this week. ‘’Meta Verified’’ could give a boost to the company’s revenue, but it remains uncertain for now how many users will be willing to pay for it.