Meta Layoffs 2022: Is It The Crypto-Focused Metaverse Division?

Facebook parent company Meta plans to downsize its global workforce this week. Meta looks to follow other tech giants Twitter and Google, announcing almost a 30-50% reduction in staff. Last week, Twitter cut its workforce by 50% due to a drop in earnings.

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Plans “Large-Scale Layoffs”

Tech giant Meta reportedly plans “large-scale layoffs” this week, the first time in the last 18 years, reported The Wall Street Journal. Meta had over 87,000 employees until September. Among the total employees, a large part works at the Metaverse division Reality Labs. Facebook’s parent company has also invested massively in the Metaverse division.

During the Q3 2022 earnings conference call, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said most teams at the company will “stay flat or shrink over the next year.” Meta plans to prioritize focus on three primary areas including the AI discovery engine, ads and business messaging platforms, and the “metaverse”. The company plans to keep investing heavily in these areas.

Meta still actively hiring for the metaverse division, with most job listings related to AI and VR roles. However, Meta shareholder Altimeter Capital, which owns about 2.46 million Meta shares, asked the company to slash its headcount and investments in “metaverse” projects.

Meta shares fell over 73% this year. Moreover, a 52% drop in net income from $9.2 billion to $4.4 billion raised concerns among its shareholders. The metaverse division posted a $3.7 billion operating loss for the period. The share prices fell over 30% after the company’s recent earnings report on October 26.

The fall in metaverse and NFT users amid the bear market have also impacted Meta’s virtual world Horizon Worlds. However, Zuckerberg remains optimistic about his outlook on the metaverse.

Elon Musk Lays Off 50% of Twitter Employees

Elon Musk decided to layoff half of Twitter’s workforce due to a massive drop in revenues. Musk said those who are affected will receive 3-month severance pay. Later, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey took to Twitter to apologize for increasing the company’s size too quickly.