Facebook copies Twitter and will lay off en masse!
It’s a bit fashionable at the moment: the massive downsizing of these ubiquitous, but ultimately struggling, social networks. After Twitter, it’s the turn of Meta (WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Quest) to launch a layoff plan that will affect thousands of people…
One might think that Elon Musk influenced Mark Zuckerberg by laying off 50% of his workforce, but apparently the idea of downsizing the store is not new. It must be said that Meta hired 27,000 people between 2020 and 2021 during the Covid when everything was “online”, but this year the action lost 70% of its value and the company wants to focus on “small centers with strong growth opportunities”. Already in September, the Wall Street Journal announced that Meta wanted to reduce its payroll by 10%. Coldly the Zuck had made it clear at the end of June that “Realistically, there’s probably a bunch of people in the company who shouldn’t be there”.
Vibe.
In September, there was talk of 87,000 layoffs, but next Wednesday, this figure could well be revised upwards.
Breaking: Facebook parent Meta plans to begin laying off thousands of employees this week, people familiar with the matter said https://t.co/NVAJtM4LLZ
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) November 6, 2022
But why lay off so much?
However, everything is not to be blamed on the pandemic since for many months, Meta has been suffering competition from TikTok in particular. Apple’s choice to put the brakes on ad tracking didn’t help either, and earlier this year Facebook lost users for the first time. The historic social network is now a landmark of boomers and even a cemetery since millions of accounts belong to deceased people. But in general, companies that live on advertising are bearing the full brunt of inflation and economic uncertainty linked to the war in Ukraine.
And then there are also the fears of the markets in front of the colossal sums engulfed by the metaverse of Meta: Horizon World. An expenditure of 15 billion for only 200,000 users.
It’s also the end of abundance for Facebook and co.
