Meta Facebook Layoffs 2022: Thousands of Staff Cuts Expected, Report Indicates

by Joe Panettieri • Nov 6, 2022

Facebook parent Meta Platforms is planning layoffs that will impact “many thousands of employees,” The Wall Street Journal reported. The job cuts will likely be announced this week, the report said.

The big question mark: How will the job cuts potentially impact Meta Reality Labs? That business division, under fire from Wall Street analysts, manages virtual and augmented reality headsets and the Meta Horizon Worlds metaverse platform. Horizon Worlds has attracted only 200,000 users, the Journal estimates.

Partners Take Note: Meta and Facebook business partners are surely watching the job cuts and company priorities closely. Indeed, key partner ecosystems include Meta Business Partners and Occulus for Business ISVs.

Meta: Runaway R&D Spending, Poor Metaverse Performance

Among the overall Meta Platforms business metrics to note for Q3 of 2022:

• Revenues fell by 4%, to $27.71 billion;
• costs and expenses rose 19%; and
• operating income fell by 46%, to $5.66 billion.

In a prepared statement about those earnings, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said:

“Our community continues to grow and I’m pleased with the strong engagement we’re seeing driven by progress on our discovery engine and products like Reels. While we face near-term challenges on revenue, the fundamentals are there for a return to stronger revenue growth. We’re approaching 2023 with a focus on prioritization and efficiency that will help us navigate the current environment and emerge an even stronger company.”

The anticipated Meta layoffs apparently will surface one week after Twitter cut half of its staff. Moreover, targeted job cuts continue at a range of cloud, security and SaaS-focused companies.

Cloud Services: Talent Still In Demand?

Still, the news isn’t all bad. Google Cloud, for instance, apparently unfroze hiring in October 2022.