Thousands of layoffs are imminent at Meta, including in the division devoted to Mark Zuckerberg’s pet project, Metaverse.
Even though 11,000 jobs were eliminated in November, representing almost 13% of the labor force, the same number will be eliminated again.
Meta Plans Another Round Of Layoffs
Reality Labs, Meta’s hardware and metaverse division, works on projects involving wearable devices. Those employees most in danger are those working on projects involving wearable devices.
After-hours trading for Meta shares increased by nearly 2 percent after The Wall Street Journal revealed the impending layoffs.
The divisions affected by the layoffs signal that Facebook’s and Instagram’s parent firm is abandoning efforts to create virtual and augmented reality products that are popular with consumers.
Zuckerberg put out his ambition for Meta to become a metaverse firm where users feel as though they are “in” to the internet, as opposed to watching it on a gadget, such that the decision was undoubtedly difficult.
In 2021, he had high expectations for his new virtual reality environment, on which the corporation had spent months working.
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Meta’s Value Plummets
Zuckerberg stated in an interview, “My ambition is that over the next five years or so, in the next phase of our company, we will effectively move from people viewing us as primarily a social network company to a metaverse company. And clearly, all of our efforts across all of the apps that people use today contribute directly to this ambition in terms of fostering community and creativity.”
“But, I’m devoting a great deal of time, energy, and thought to this, and we’re putting in an enormous amount of effort. And I believe it will play a significant role in the future phase of our efforts in the entire sector,” Zuckerberg said.
The Meta stock price has increased by around 43 percent since the beginning of the year, as investors applaud this latest round of layoffs. In 2022, the value of the firm, which owns WhatsApp, plummeted by around two-thirds.
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