NEW YORK (Reuters) – Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc (METAO) cut jobs in its business and operations units on Wednesday as it implemented its latest set of three-part layoffs, part of a plan announced in March to cut 10,000 roles.
Dozens of employees working in teams such as marketing, site security, enterprise architecture, program management, content strategy and corporate communications took to LinkedIn to announce their layoffs.
According to LinkedIn posts, the social media giant has also cut employees from its privacy and integrity-focused units.
Meta earlier this year became the first Big Tech company to announce a second round of mass layoffs, after opening the door to more than 11,000 employees in the fall. The cuts have reduced the company’s headcount to what it was as of around mid-2021, after a hiring spree that doubled its workforce since 2020.
Shares of the company closed marginally higher in a broadly weaker market. It has more than doubled in value this year and is among the best performers in the S&P 500 (.SPX), thanks to its cost-cutting drive and Meta’s focus on artificial intelligence.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in March that the bulk of the company’s second-round layoffs would happen in three “moments” over several months, largely ending in May. He said some smaller rounds could continue after that.
In general, the cuts have affected non-engineering roles the most, cementing the primacy of those who write code in the Meta. Zuckerberg pledged to “fundamentally” restructure teams and return to “a better ratio of engineers to other roles.”
Even among cuts specifically targeting tech teams, the company has cut non-engineering roles like content design and user experience research aggressively, according to two executives who spoke at the company town hall after its latest round of layoffs in April.
Zuckerberg said about 4,000 employees lost their jobs in April, following a lesser hit to hiring teams in March.
The social media company said on Wednesday that the latest cuts will likely affect around 490 staff at its international headquarters in Dublin, or roughly 20% of the Irish workforce.
Two key market executives in India have also been let go — marketing director Avinash Pant and Saket J Saurabh, director and head of media partnerships — according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.
The two executives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Meta’s layoffs came after months of waning revenue growth amid rising inflation and a slump in digital advertising from the pandemic e-commerce boom.
The company has also poured billions of dollars into its metaverse-oriented Reality Labs unit, which lost $13.7 billion in 2022, and a project to improve its infrastructure to support its AI business.
(Reporting by Katie Paul in New York). Editing by Kenneth Lee and Mark Porter
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