According to BloombergMeta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently outlined plans to reduce the company’s workforce, restructure teams and reduce costs towards 2023.
Bloomberg reports: that Zuckerberg spoke about these changes during one of the company’s weekly question-and-answer sessions, citing a person in attendance. Zuckerberg has reportedly indicated to employees that Meta will freeze hiring and restructure select teams, with the goal of cutting costs and realigning priorities. As a result, the company will be “slightly smaller” by the end of 2023, Zuckerberg said.
According to Bloomberg, this would be the first time Meta has reduced its workforce since the company’s founding as Facebook in 2004.
Zuckerberg also reportedly indicated that cuts would take effect for all teams, even those seeing growth. such as the Reality Labs department.
This news is coming in a few months after Meta decided to delay hiring some positions and cutting back on select Reality Labs projects. In June, reports from The Information and The Verge indicated that Meta scrapped its plans to release AR glasses for consumers by 2024.
In May, a Meta spokesperson told UploadVR that the company was not currently planning any layoffs. According to Bloomberg’s new report, individual teams at Meta can now leave the roles of departed employees unfilled, employees across teams or “manage people who fail.”
“I had hoped that the economy would have stabilized more clearly by now,” Zuckerberg said, according to Bloomberg. “But from what we’re seeing, it doesn’t look like it yet, so we want to plan somewhat conservatively.” UploadVR reached out to Meta for comment – we’ll update the story if we get a response.
According to a report by The Verge, Meta’s Reality Labs division was over 17,000 people in May – more than a fifth of the company’s total workforce. The company is currently “laser-focused” on the launch of Project Cambria – also known as Quest Pro – later this month, in addition to the annual Meta Connect conference that will take place next week.
Meanwhile, Meta’s competitors are preparing to launch their own new products – Pico 4 promises competition for Quest 2 and ships October 18while Sony’s PSVR 2 and Apple’s unannounced mixed reality headset expected to arrive in 2023.