Is the Meta template oversized? In the eyes of its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, yes. In fact, he has already announced it: Meta will end 2023 with a smaller squad than the current one. And it is that, the numbers do not come out at all for the technological giant. Already last July, we reported that the company had registered losses for the first time since its creation. The figure was not very significant, a decrease in revenue of 1% compared to the second quarter of 2021. Although something more striking were the real figures with more than 29 million dollars in losses.
From Meta, despite this, they were optimistic and trusted that as the metaverse became more important in everyday life, in entertainment, at work, in education or in commerce, they would be “laying the foundations ยป for a great 2030. But of course, between now and 2030 there is still a long way to go so the company is going to undertake a reduction of personnel in its bulky payroll of workers. According to official data, as of April 30, 2022, it is made up of more than 78,500.
Image is very important to Meta, and it avoids talking about layoffs, but rather about “reorganization of departments.” As published by The Wall Street Journal, Mark Zuckerberg seeks to reduce his expenses by 10%, in a more aggressive strategy that could even involve deeper cuts, especially at the employee level.
2022: the year of trouble for Meta
At the moment, this reorganization sets an objective for the affected employees: they have 30 days to look for a new role within the company, otherwise they will be fired. Or what is the same, no one is untouchable in Meta anymore and even employees in good positions and with reputable experience could be included in that 10% of workers whose positions hang in the balance.
There can be various excuses, from inflation, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the tension between the US and China, the serious problems that have recently occurred with supply chain failures… but also a drop in the number of Meta followers who have pushed its shares down 60% so far this year. And it is that Meta, where 98% of its revenue comes from digital advertising, cannot afford any more user churn.
A somewhat complicated 2022 for the American company where, internally, it has also experienced destabilizing movements. For example, the departure of Sheryl Sandberg as chief operating officer, after being Mark Zuckerberg’s right-hand man for years; the commitment to the metaverse that is not giving the expected results; Reality Labs accumulates losses of around 20,000 million dollars for more than two years now; and the continuous demands for extracting information from users without their consent, have turned this 2022 into a year to forget.
