Chinese Organizations in Silicon Valley Recommend New Jobs for Laid-Off Meta Staff
On the evening of November 9, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company would lay off 13% of its workforce, affecting more than 11,000 employees. As of the end of September, the multinational technology conglomerate had more than 87,000 staff members.
“I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here. I know this is tough for everyone, and I’m especially sorry to those impacted,” Zuckerberg wrote in a letter to employees.
Zuckerberg said Meta had cut costs across its business, including by scaling back budgets, reducing perks, and shrinking real estate footprint, adding that layoffs are a last resort. The company shifted more resources into a smaller number of high priority growth areas such as AI discovery engines, ads and business platforms, and a long-term vision for the metaverse.
In response to the layoffs, many Chinese organizations in Silicon Valley have begun to recommend each other for new job opportunities. Many online information sheets have emerged, including one with more than 800 components.
Recruitment and business positions bore the brunt of Meta’s cuts. However, some engineers have also been impacted. Leaks from within Meta and on social media suggest that some engineering departments are laying off a significant percentage of their employees.
The staff who have been hit hardest this time are new employees and fresh graduates. In addition, there are rumors that Meta only fired a few people in recent days, and will gradually layoff more people through various means. The earliest announcement date may be between next week and the end of the year.
Meta plans to hire fewer people in 2023. Impacted employees will receive 16 weeks of pay plus two additional weeks for every year of service, with no cap. Meta will cover health insurance for six months. Outside the US, support will be similar.
SEE ALSO: Metaverse Jobs on Chinese Recruitment Platform Up 16.6% YoY From January to July
Meta’s financial results were weak in the most recent quarter. In the third quarter, Meta’s revenue fell 4% to $27.714 billion, marking the second consecutive quarter of annual revenue declines. Meta reported a net profit of $4.4 billion for the third quarter. That represents the fourth quarter in a row that the company’s bottom line has fallen, something Meta hasn’t experienced in a decade, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Other tech companies are also having a tough time. Just last week Elon Musk, Twitter’s new boss, was revealed to be planning to fire half of the company’s workforce. E-commerce giant Amazon announced it was suspending new hires due to the worsening macroeconomic outlook. Ride-hailing company Lyft said it would cut 13% of its workforce, or about 650 of its 5,000 employees. Stripe, a payment processing platform, has announced it will lay off 14% of its workforce, affecting about 1,100 people.
