Latest round of cuts focuses on business groups

Meta has begun its third round of layoffs as part of the company’s multibillion-dollar plan to save costs.

The latest round of cuts targets members of Meta’s business groups and follows a previous round of layoffs in April that affected employees in technical roles. About 10,000 workers will lose their jobs between the April and May cuts, following the company’s first round in November that affected 11,000 employees.

Meta employees with roles in user experience, marketing, recruiting and engineering took to LinkedIn to announce they had been let go on Wednesday, backing up an earlier report by Reuters. Meta declined to comment but referred CNBC to an earlier post by CEO Mark Zuckerberg saying cuts to the company’s business groups would begin in late May.

The cuts are part of Meta’s so-called year of efficiency, which Zuckerberg pitched as necessary for the company to slim down and become more nimble amid a challenging economy and weakened digital advertising market.

“As I’ve talked about efficiency this year, I’ve said that part of our work will involve removing jobs — and that will be in service of both building a leaner, more technical company and improving our business performance to enable our long term vision,” Zuckerberg said in March in a post. “I understand that this update may still feel surprising, so I’d like to lay out some broader context on our vision, our culture, and our operating philosophy.”

In April, Meta reported first-quarter revenue rose 3% from $27.91 billion a year earlier, after three straight periods in which it declined.

Despite the cost cuts, Meta is still investing heavily into the nascent metaverse, and its Reality Labs unit, which is developing virtual reality and augmented reality technologies, logged a $3.99 billion operating loss while generating $339 million in sales in the first quarter.

Investors have praised Meta’s major cost-cutting, sending the social networking giant’s shares rising 180% to $246.74 since bottoming at under $89 in November.

Correction: Meta’s shares have risen 180% to $246.74 since bottoming at under $89 in November. An earlier version misstated two figures.

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