Facebook parent company Meta Platforms is preparing a fresh round of job cuts, in a downsizing effort that could affect thousands of workers, the Washington Post reported Wednesday. META stock was trading flat.
The expected cutbacks follow the 11,000 layoffs Meta announced in early November, representing 13% of its workforce. Meta faces unprecedented challenges and its multibillion-dollar investment in a new digital world called the metaverse.
META stock slipped a fraction to close at 171.12 on the stock market today.
The Meta cutbacks are part of industrywide layoffs that kicked off midway through last year and accelerated into 2023.
META Stock: One Of Many Cutting Jobs
Job cuts totaled 147,000 from October through January. Nearly half of them came from Amazon, Google-parent Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft and Salesforce, according to Roger Lee, co-founder of Comprehensive.io.
Lee's company tracks the salary ranges of the top 1,000 tech companies. He also founded Layoffs.fyi, which tracks tech layoffs. Both sites are free.
Since announcing plans in November to cut 11,000, META stock has vaulted 69%. But tech giants now feel the pain of self-inflicted wounds, stemming from expectations that did not surface.
"Starting in mid-2020, tech companies went on a hiring spree, fueled by low interest rates and demand for tech products while people were staying at home during the pandemic," Lee said in an email exchange with Investor's Business Daily. "Now, these same tech companies are performing layoffs to undo the over-hiring from the past couple of years."
Trying To Undue Past Mistakes
As of mid-February, more than 105,500 tech employees have been cut this year, Lee said. "We are already two-thirds of the way toward the 159,000 employees laid off in all of 2022."
The Washington Post reported that Meta plans to push some leaders into lower-level roles, flattening the layers of management at the company.
"Other managers may end up overseeing a higher number of employees as their teams grow bigger," the report said.
This year, META stock is up 45%.
Please follow Brian Deagon on Twitter at @IBD_BDeagon for more on tech stocks, analysis and financial markets.
