Facebook parent Meta is reported to be preparing large-scale staff cuts globally, as the lay-offs across the tech sector gather pace.
Meta’s plans will affect many thousands of staff, the Wall Street Journal reported late on Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter. The company could announce the lay-offs as soon as Wednesday, the newspaper said.
Meta cutting staff could have significant implications for Ireland. The company employs about 3,000 people directly in Dublin. An additional 6,000 people are employed at operations across multiple sites including Meta’s international headquarters in Dublin, Clonee data centre in Co Meath and Reality Labs in Cork.
A Meta spokeswoman declined to comment.
The cuts would come days after Twitter under new owner Elon Musk set out to roughly halve its workforce, with that company’s Dublin office apparently closed on Friday. It is not yet clear if it will reopen on Monday. Stripe meanwhile said it would lay off 14 per cent of its headcount globally, roughly equivalent to 1,000 people.
[ Twitter to enter 30-day consultation period with Irish staff affected by lay-offsOpens in new window ]
Minister for Enterprise Leo Varadkar was not informed of either Twitter or Stripe’s lay-offs ahead of time, as is customary under Irish law, The Irish Times reported on Saturday.
Meta has struggled this year, as the business grapples with declines in advertising revenue. The company’s shares fell by more than a fifth on October 27th after the firm’s quarterly earnings missed market expectations. Speaking to analysts at the time, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said the company would focus its investments on “a small number of high priority growth areas” in 2023.
“Some teams will grow meaningfully, but most other teams will stay flat or shrink over the next year,” he said. “In aggregate, we expect to end 2023 as either roughly the same size, or even a slightly smaller organisation than we are today.”
