Meta plans to cut 10% of jobs at company’s Reality Labs division

[SAN FRANCISCO] Meta Platforms plans to cut 10 per cent of jobs in the company’s Reality Labs division, part of a broader strategy to shift money away from some virtual reality (VR) products and into other artificial intelligence (AI) wearables.

The cuts are expected this week, according to a source familiar with the company’s plans who was not authorised to speak publicly. Chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg asked executives to look for budget reductions within the Reality Labs division late last year, including cuts to some of the company’s virtual reality and metaverse products, Bloomberg News previously reported.

Reality Labs, which houses units building VR headsets, AI glasses and the company’s metaverse products, has been losing billions of US dollars per quarter for the past several years as the company invests in products that have not yet generated meaningful revenue.

In December, executives discussed budget cuts as high as 30 per cent for the metaverse group, which sits inside Reality Labs, Bloomberg News reported. The Reality Labs division has roughly 15,000 employees. The New York Times reported earlier on Meta’s plans for layoffs this week.

A spokesperson for Menlo Park, California-based Meta declined to comment. BLOOMBERG