Facebook's owner Meta due to begin job cuts today
Facebook owner Meta Platforms will begin laying off employees on Wednesday morning, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg told hundreds of executives on Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Zuckerberg appeared downcast in Tuesday's meeting and said he was accountable for the company's missteps and his overoptimism about growth had led to overstaffing, the report added, citing people familiar with the matter.
He described broad cuts and specifically mentioned the recruiting and business teams as among those facing layoffs, the report said, adding an internal announcement of the company's layoff plans is expected around 11am Irish time on Wednesday.
The specific employees losing their jobs will be informed over the course of the morning, the report said.
Meta's head of human resources, Lori Goler, said employees who lose their jobs will be provided with at least four months of salary as severance, the WSJ reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Meta reported more than 87,000 employees at the end of September.
The company declined to comment on the report.
Irish jobs
Rumours have been circulating in recent weeks that the company could be seeking to shed up to 1,000 roles from its Irish operations.
Meta employs more than 3,000 people directly in Ireland, with an additional 6,000 people employed at operations across multiple sites including its international headquarters in Dublin, Clonee data centre in Co Meath and Reality Labs in Cork.
It is not yet clear how the Irish arm of the company will be affected by any planned job cuts. However, one area that could be adversely hit is contractors employed through a third party. Other potential areas that could be hit are recruitment, sales and other support functions.
Meta has also stalled work on its campus development in Ballsbridge, pausing the fit-out of its Fibonacci Square building.
The development comes after Twitter laid off half its workforce across teams ranging from communications and content curation to product and engineering following Elon Musk's takeover.
However, Bloomberg on Sunday reported Twitter was reaching out to dozens of employees who lost their jobs, asking them to return.
Microsoft also laid off around 1,000 employees across several divisions in October, according to an Axios report. - Reuters
