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Meta expected to lay off thousands in broader tech slowdown

cigaretteman

HR King
May 29, 2001
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Facebook’s parent is poised to begin large-scale layoffs this week after months of warnings from executives that cutbacks were coming, according to a person familiar with the matter.
More than a month ago, Meta had said it would stop making new offers to job candidates, sourcing candidates and approving internal transfers while the company reevaluated how best to prioritize its staffing resources, according to a memo posted to the company’s internal message board and viewed by The Washington Post.


But the layoffs, which could begin as soon as Wednesday, according to the Wall Street Journal, would be the first wide-scale job cuts of the company’s 18-year history. They would also expand on a broader retrenchment within the tech sector, which has recently seen several big-name companies cut staff or freeze hiring.






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After years of soaring profits and seemingly endless success, Silicon Valley giants have been forced to manage their resources in an uncertain economic environment. Some digital advertisers are pulling back on spending as rising inflation has created market instability. While many internet platforms experienced a boom during the pandemic when people stayed home to avoid the spread of the coronavirus, vaccines and fewer government-imposed lockdowns have given marketers and users offline alternatives to social media.
Meta, in particular, is facing intensifying competition for advertising dollars and users in the social media market from newer rivals such as TikTok and Snapchat. And the targeted advertising methods that turned Meta into an economic behemoth took a hit last year when Apple introduced new privacy restrictions that forced app makers to explicitly ask users if they could track their activity across the internet — a request many rebuffed.
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Meta representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 
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