Nearly half Meta job cuts were in tech, executives say

META Platforms told employees on Friday (Nov 11) that 54 per cent of the 11,000 jobs it cut earlier this week were business roles and the rest were in technology.

Executives speaking during a during an employee townhall meeting also said the company was exiting its Portal smart display business and will wind down work on smartwatches.

Meta’s recruiting team was cut in half, they said.

The Facebook parent said on Wednesday it was slashing 13 per cent of its workforce, the first mass layoffs in the company’s 18-year history.

Following the layoffs, chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg had addressed employees, saying that revenue was much lower than he expected. “I got this wrong, and I take responsibility for that,” he said.

.Like its peers, Meta aggressively hired during the pandemic to meet a surge in social media usage by stuck-at-home consumers. But business has suffered this year as advertisers and consumers pull the plug on spending in the face of soaring costs and rapidly rising interest rates.

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Zuckerberg said on Friday that going forward he was not planning to massively grow headcount of the Reality Labs unit responsible for its metaverse investments.

Meta shares were up 1 per cent at US$113 in afternoon trading. REUTERS.