Meta in downsizing drive

Meta in downsizing drive is cutting down 13 percent of its workforce or 11,000 jobs in one of the year’s biggest layoffs as the Facebook parent company battles soaring costs. The mass layoffs, the first in Meta’s 18-year history, follow thousands of job cuts at other major tech Microsoft Corp. The pandemic-led boom that boosted tech companies and their valuations has turned into a bust companies including Elon Musk-owned Twitter and this year in the face of decades-high inflation and rapidly rising interest rates. The company also plans to cut discretionary spending and extend its hiring freeze through the first quarter but it did not specify the impacted regions or the expected cost savings from the moves. It now expects 2023 expenses of as much as $100 billion compared with up to $100 billion previously with more of the resources being focused on areas such as artificial intelligence, ads, business platforms and the metaverse. Wall Street has been losing patience over Zuckerberg’s enormous and experimental bets on his metaverse project, a shared virtual world, with one shareholder recently calling the investments super-sized and terrifying. Concerns over the spending spree have wiped off more than two-thirds of Meta’s market value so far this year. TW