According to sources in The Wall Street Journal, there is a predicted mass firing coming at Meta. It’s no big surprise given that CEO Mark Zuckerberg warned his staff as early as July to prepare for “one of the worst downturns that we’ve seen in recent history” and that Meta was slowing hiring.
As reported by The Wall Street Journal on November 6: “Meta is planning to begin large-scale layoffs this week, according to people familiar with the matter. The layoffs are expected to affect many thousands of employees and an announcement is planned to come as soon as Wednesday, according to the people.”
As you might have predicted, this attempt at regaining some money for the company is most likely due to Zuckerberg’s focus on his Metaverse. Maybe salaries won’t be necessarily funnelled directly into it, but it’s likely to lighten the increasing load in the company while they work on it.
As Zuckerberg told Protocol earlier this year: “I want to live in a world where big companies use their resources to take big shots. Obviously, if people invest in our company, we want to be profitable for them. If employees join our company, I want to make sure that ends up being a good financial decision for them, too. But I also feel a responsibility to go for it. Use the position that we’re in to make some bets, and try to push forward in a way that other people might not.”
So, what does this mean for marketers? Well, it sounds like Zuckerberg is giving you two options: get on the Metaverse, or get off the sinking ship that is Meta. Meta’s mounting expenses are coming from the Metaverse, rather than optimising its platform, which maybe isn’t what the youngsters love anymore, but has its own identity that can be used for marketing gain.
