Key Takeaways

  • Meta has begun its fifth round of layoffs in two years.

  • Employees at WhatsApp, Instagram, and Reality Labs were reportedly affected.

  • The layoffs helped Meta post a significant stock market gain in 2024, boosting CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth.

Meta has launched its fifth round of layoffs since CEO Mark Zuckerberg declared 2022 the company's "Year of Efficiency."

As the company continues to streamline operations and cut expenses, those efforts are paying off. Meta’s stock price has more than doubled in 2024, and Zuckerperg’s personal wealth has soared nearly 90%.

Meta's latest layoffs

As first reported by The Verge , Meta has begun laying off employees across various departments, including WhatsApp, Instagram, and its Metaverse division, Reality Labs.

The exact number of employees affected is unclear, but The Verge says the latest round of layoffs is not as severe as previous ones.

“Today, some teams at Meta are making changes to ensure resources are aligned with their long-term strategic goals and location strategy," a company spokesperson told the publication. "This includes moving some teams to different locations and some employees to different roles. In cases like this, when a position is eliminated, we work hard to identify other opportunities for impacted employees.”

Five rounds of layoffs since 2022

Meta’s latest layoffs mark the company’s fifth since November 2022, when it laid off more than 11,000 employees, or about 13% of its workforce at the time.

The company continued to cut jobs in early 2023, announcing another 10,000 layoffs between March and April.

Including the latest layoffs, Meta has carried out three more rounds of layoffs of unknown size since then.

Meta isn’t the only company in this trend, of course. Since 2022, companies like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have laid off tens of thousands of employees, amid widespread layoffs across the tech industry.

Zuckerberg briefly became the world's second richest person

Zuckerberg, who owns about 13% of the business, has been a major beneficiary of Meta’s stock market gains.

Earlier this month, Bloomberg's Billionaires Index reported that he briefly became the world's second-richest person as his net worth surpassed $200 billion.

Although he was later pushed to third place by Jeff Bezos, the Facebook founder is still close to the top.

Meta’s “Year of Efficiency”

Meta faced a decline in Facebook’s daily users and a massive $200 billion market cap loss in 2022. In response, Zuckerberg declared Meta’s “Year of Efficiency,” making tough decisions like laying off 21,000 employees and refocusing the company on artificial intelligence.

On March 14, 2024, the company shared an update with their employees:

“In the coming months, organizational leaders will announce restructuring plans focused on flattening our organization, eliminating lower priority projects, and reducing our hiring rate.”

Although considered a radical move, it still sent a clear message to investors that Meta was serious about becoming leaner and more focused. In addition to the layoffs, Meta’s foray into AI seemed to reassure investors that Meta was focused on their future strategy.

Staying Away from the Metaverse

Microsoft recently announced that it would discontinue its HoloLens mixed reality headset as the company shifts its focus to AI. The Metaverse was once touted as a focus, but now it has also been sidelined by Meta.

The move comes as big tech companies shift resources to more profitable areas.

As investors continue to pour billions of dollars into companies like Nvidia, Meta’s shift to focusing on AI has become one of its biggest strengths. In particular, AI’s potential to drive engagement on Meta’s social media platform and fuel its advertising algorithms has contributed to the bullish outlook for Meta stock.





It should be emphasized that this article is for reference only and does not constitute investment advice.