META Platforms is planning to begin layoffs that will affect thousands of workers from this week, Wall Street Journal reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

The job cuts could come as early as Wednesday, the newspaper said. The company has already told employees to cancel non-essential travel from this week, according to the report.

Chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg in September outlined plans to reorganise teams and reduce headcount for the first time, following a sharp slowdown in growth at the parent of Facebook and Instagram.

Zuckerberg said then that Meta will likely be smaller in 2023 than it was this year. The layoffs come as Meta struggles with growing losses and as it invests heavily in developing its metaverse business. Its shares have fallen 73 per cent this year.

The cuts will add to already mounting job losses in Silicon Valley.

Twitter last week slashed nearly 3,700 positions after Elon Musk completed his US$44 billion takeover of the social media platform.

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Other companies that have also reduced their workforce or announced plans to include ridehailing firm Lyft and hard drive maker Seagate Technology Holdings. A spokesman for Meta declined to comment to the WSJ. BLOOMBERG