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Meta plans to cut thousands of jobs, after CEO predicted no more layoffs
- rennsport_eth 4y agoZuckerberg and his team of cronies are and have always been pure slime. This isn't surprising news. I'm thrilled that his endeavor with Meta has been miserable. Long past due to dethrone him.
- xyst 4y agoFeels like people have been saying this for years yet nothing has materialized.
- rennsport_eth 4y agoEveryone wants to work for a FAANG and be a cog in the machine. Now that tech is shedding people left and right perhaps the picture is starting to become clearer.
- owlglass 4y agoWhat of his endeavor has been miserable? He's still a billionaire who exercises his power as he wishes
- rennsport_eth 4y agoUhm did you miss the legs situation? lmao Billions at his disposal and can't even create remotely decent content? Laughable. All his products are soulless, like himself. https://www.pymnts.com/meta/2022/meta-metaverse-weekly-in-horizon-worlds-emperor-has-no-legs/ https://www.pymnts.com/meta/2022/meta-metaverse-weekly-in-ho...
- achow 4y agoScary that the path Elon Musk showed is being followed almost to the T. - Efficiency by cutting staff as much as possible (even after promising 'no more') - Subscription service for verified accounts. Next - Bankruptcy declaration?
- justapassenger 4y agoElon Musk didn’t invent layoffs. Bankruptcy? Their profit was $23B last year.
- siva7 4y agoThis is now the third layoff round for Meta in a very short time span. Hopefully this improves the morale of those left and no more layoffs will be necessary.
- curiousllama 4y agoThird? The article says this is the second, no?
- roland35 4y agoMaybe he is thinking about "the flattening", but that hasn't happened yet (if it is happening at all). Or maybe this is the flattening. We don't know!
- what_ever 4y ago"flattening" is in the byline of the article.
- roland35 4y agoyes I understand that, but I was referring to the grandparent comment's "second layoff". As far as the article, I know it is referencing the "flattening" but my point is none of us (besides Mark Z) really know for sure.
- likpok 4y agoAs near as I can tell the article is talking about the flattening (which does not seem to have happened yet).
- 96llort 4y agoLayoffs will continue until morale improves...
- tigerlily 4y agoIf morale never improves, then I guess the number of staff will reach zero sometime.
- nickdothutton 4y agoCut early, cut big, and cut once then move forwards with new operating plan.
- irrational 4y agoAnd cut when other companies are cutting. My company did fairly small layoffs about a year before everyone else started. I imagine the hire ups wish they had waited to do deeper cuts when everyone else was cutting.
- omoikane 4y agoSomewhat related from "The Prince" by Machiavelli: in seizing a state, the usurper ought to examine closely into all those injuries which it is necessary for him to inflict, and to do them all at one stroke so as not to have to repeat them daily Also: men ought either to be well treated or crushed, because they can avenge themselves of lighter injuries, of more serious ones they cannot https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/1232 https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/1232 https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/57037 https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/57037
- ejb999 4y agothat is pretty much what Musk did with twitter - and he was vilified for it.
- eadler 4y agoMusk started with three big cuts and has been doing near weekly cuts since then. I'm not sure that counts as "Cut early, cut big, and cut once". (I'm a former Twitter employee)
- nickdothutton 4y agoI should have added that this advice came to me from one John T. Chambers.
- ThalesX 4y agoIt looks like he's running the Musk - Twitter playbook. One notable difference seems to be that instead of cutting hard, he's doing multiple small cuts. I think that's not the best strategy. If I were a Meta employee I'd be looking for other pastures.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- dlondon 4y agoIt is a good strategy for business continuity and they probably evaluate as they move people around internally. Employee morale doesn't matter when the market is full of hireable workforce (when/if they hire).
- slantedview 4y agoEmployee morale absolutely affects productivity. The impact of repeated cuts is a toxic drain on morale that can last years.
- mturmon 4y agoYeah, repeated layoffs really kill the "loyalty", "family" thing that companies try to create. And it tends to make the remaining workforce risk-averse, which is not what Meta has ever stood for. It's a real contradiction.
- wpietri 4y agoThis is true only if people work just as well out of fear as they do love. That is a common belief of people who like to manage via fear, but it certainly doesn't match my experience.
- ctvo 4y ago> Employee morale doesn't matter when the market is full of hireable workforce (when/if they hire). I'd take the bet that it takes just as much time on average for Meta to hire a new engineer as it did before 2021, across all levels, including junior engineers. A large population of engineers let go from other companies does not equal 1) those engineers wanting to work for Meta 2) the engineers who want to work for Meta can pass Meta's interview process or have the qualifications.
- EarthIsHome 4y agohttps://archive.is/SajD9 https://archive.is/SajD9
- sleton38234234 4y agoi'm just wondering how Meta will fair IF the metaverse doesn't take off the way they expect. I mean it's such a big bet. Google has made many bets in the past and some worked but most did not.
- ben30 4y agoI've been thinking a lot about Meta's investment in the metaverse, and while I'm intrigued by the possibilities, I can't help but see some potential problems. The biggest issue I see is the need for an expensive VR headset to fully experience the metaverse. While many people are willing to invest in a new phone every few years, I'm not sure that the metaverse holds the same appeal. Even though phones started out as a mediocre experience, the iPhone form factor made them indispensable. I don't see how the metaverse will follow a similar trajectory, especially since it requires such a significant investment. In hindsight, I wonder if Meta should have focused more on their AI learning, as I imagine they're using AI heavily to moderate the world's chatter. While it's not the kind of AI that's getting all the buzz right now, I think it has huge potential, and could be the valuable asset for Meta going forward.
- naijaboiler 4y agoCorrect. They should have invested more in their AI. They have is pytorch right. They had the early lead in the AI. They could have been at the leading edge of LLMs. Instead they focused on VR
- pm90 4y agoAlmost certainly the play is going to be to invest more in instagram to steal features from other social media apps. Thats Meta’s strategy. The Metaverse is not gonna work.
- ehnto 4y agoI think the Metaverse will fail, but I think Meta can maintain a product in VR and a VR marketplace. Like the game console model that has proven succesful previously. A metaverse like community platform will probably gain major popularity one day, when headsets are seamlessly blended into a casual consumer product that people feel cool wearing in a room of people. Until then, social VR platforms are niche because the target market is niche too. The network effect is diminished as well because the barrier for entry is so high. I really think the problem for mass adoption is coolness and seamlessless. By seamless I mean, not removing you from present company and not requiring more than a simple pair of fashionable goggles or glasses.
- cloudking 4y agoMeta comms https://twitter.com/andymstone/status/1628424399362658305 https://twitter.com/andymstone/status/1628424399362658305
- cgb223 4y agoThe “debunking” is just that Mark Zuckerberg never claimed that the layoffs would stop
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- streb-lo 4y agoSeems like he just debunked the 'after CEO predicted no more layoffs' part, but confirmed layoffs are coming.
- jacobsenscott 4y agoRTFA. Nothing was debunked. WaPo say very clearly: At the time, Zuckerberg told remaining employees the company had made a substantial cut to “minimize the chance of having to do broad layoffs like this for the foreseeable future,” according to a recording of the companywide meeting reviewed by The Washington Post. WaPo also says very clearly he delivered a different message to investors. The tweet from that meta functionary weasels around this.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- toolz 4y agoHow long until WaPo is categorized as relevant as the grocery store checkout isle tabloids? It's like they made up some drama out of thin air without even caring that it contradicts their own "journalism". How does a once professional news outlet turn into this? Is this really what people want?
- dumbotron 4y ago
- monero-xmr 4y agoIt will be ~7% layoffs every quarter at every public company until the stock is attractive to investors again. Lowering interest rates will also help a lot but that doesn’t look likely with the last inflation report.
- MuffinFlavored 4y ago> It will be ~7% layoffs every quarter at every public company until the stock is attractive to investors again. This was one of the biggest things I felt wasn't being talked about in all of the layoff comment threads here on HN (or Reddit or Twitter or traditional media news sites or wherever) It wasn't a 1 and done "cut the bottom 5-10% off and move on" I mean, I/we don't really know for sure if that's how it plays out but... https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-16/fed-s-mester-says-she-saw-compelling-case-for-half-point-hike https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-16/fed-s-mes... https://tickertape.tdameritrade.com/market-news/ppi-data-comes-in-hot-could-fed-s-inflation-fight-require-more-ammunition--19394 https://tickertape.tdameritrade.com/market-news/ppi-data-com... Not only does it seem that we aren't out of anything recessionary yet, it's as if we are only just at the very beginning/it hasn't started yet. Thoughts?
- junofan 4y agoYeah tech stocks need to compete. These companies sell ads. They don’t need teams working on bullshit like optimizing talent acquisition pipelines or whatever.
- beiller 4y agoI am in the same camp as you. But I think the approach of "cut x% over and over" to keep the stock afloat at some point is not going to work forever, since a company is not very competitive at 0% of its original engineering / get things done work force. Heck if the markets were truly free markets and stock price was based on fundamentals, we may even start to see highly paid senior leadership cuts over lower level employees. Call me crazy.
- hello_moto 4y ago
- pwthornton 4y agoHonestly, multiple rounds of cuts are a big failure of leadership. The research is clear that layoffs negatively affect morale and performance. But one big round of layoffs has much less impact than a series of smaller ones. Employees will be sitting around waiting for the next round of cuts to happen, and many people do not like operating in such an unstable environment and will seek more stable employment. If layoffs are necessary, you tell the staff why and the correction you need to make, and then you set out to make the cuts big enough so that you can go at least a year without having to do another round. The way Meta is operating is if they don't know anything beyond two feet in front of them.
- MuffinFlavored 4y ago> multiple rounds of cuts are a big failure of leadership. Not to be ultra cynical but why waste effort calling this out? What accountability is going to happen? They got hired for leadership roles. They make big leadership money total compensation. Then, they make business 101 mistakes (don't over hire during COVID under the expectation that the escalated demand will remain permanently forever), then nothing happens to them and they continue making big money. Is that not more or less how this is playing out?
- zpeti 4y ago> don't over hire during COVID under the expectation that the escalated demand will remain permanently forever I don’t think that follows. You want to overhire to make extra profits. Then just downsize when it’s over. Which is almost exactly what all tech companies are doing now.
- MuffinFlavored 4y agoso in that case, not a failure by leadership whatsoever, it’s actually them doing exactly what they should?
- johngladtj 4y ago
- xyst 4y agoShocked pikachu face A company that has been hemorrhaging money to push a failed VR and “web 3.0”-verse is laying off people. I never would have imagined this will happen in 1000 years. I have said this before and will say it again. I will never work for “Meta”/Facebook/Zuckerberg. The company itself is a prime source of division in the United States of America and has the worst business practices and culture. I will however continue to interview, waste their time, drag my feet, and use their offers to increase my salary offerings at other companies.
- MuffinFlavored 4y ago> The company itself is a prime source of division in the United States of America Devil's advocate but why don't you see Facebook as a blank canvas where people can post whatever they want, and it's the people posting the dividing content responsible? Facebook is just the medium, no? Could be Reddit, could be Twitter. Why are you holding Facebook responsible in your mind?
- soiler 4y agoDo you think that's what Facebook is? Are you not aware of their content sorting algorithms?
- MuffinFlavored 4y agoI was under the impression the content sorting algorithms pay attention to metrics like engagement (likes/reactions/comments) and how long people read it, and then since it's their motive to keep you scrolling for as long as possible (so that you view as many ads as possible), they lean on their user data to promote hot stories that cause good engagement. Therefore, if the users consumer lots of "divisive" content and it causes good engagement, isn't it the user's fault for being such "fans" of the divisive content that it makes Facebook algorithms promote it?
- strangetortoise 4y agoIf a dealer repeatedly puts a needle in front of an addict, and encourages them to take it, and they end up giving in, who's responsible? The addict is of course not without blame, but at the very least I hope we can find a consensus that the dealer is behaving extremely immoral. This is essentially how I view facebook. It's abusing the human condition for profit with destructive effects.
- newaccount2021 4y ago[dead]
- kelseyfrog 4y agoI'm not sure why anyone takes any statement from management at face value. Of course every layoff is the last one..until it isn't. The same goes for M&A - "Nothing will change"..until it does and "We're a family"..until you're not. Once you've been around the block a few times, you learn that taking these statements at face value is a recipe for disappointment and being proven wrong. Just nod, give a "sure buddy," and hold your cards close. Min-max your plays and understand the difference between words and actions.
- dumbotron 4y agoYou have to have a more guarded faith in management than that, but yes, if there are layoffs 3 months after not foreseeing more layoffs management was either lying or incompetent, and it's time to GTFO.
- naijaboiler 4y agoUm no he is right. This is just the start. I have been around the block to know that layoffs rarely are only one rounders. Word of advice, if a company is doing voluntary layoff, and you have decent porosity of finding anther job, jump on it. The first round guys get the best offer. It only gets worse from there
- insane_dreamer 4y agofive words: wall street stock price targets
- mthrowaway1643 4y agoIt has been clear for some time that this is largely aimed at middle management and not rank-and-file. The company has been pretty transparent about this.
- krmboya 4y agoCarmack, a 'hardcore' programmer, left due to frustration with how much political clout you need to get things done at facebook scale. Elon Musk is seemingly focused on bringing 'hardcore' engineering to Twitter, and is willing to stomach chaos in the immediate term to achieve this. Maybe Zuckerberg the programmer, rather than Zuckerberg the executive is paying attention
- loeg 4y agoAre there any new facts being reported on here or is this solely a regurgitation of the "we would like to flatten management" from the employee all-hands a few weeks ago? It sounds like they have a source, but I don't really see any concrete claims that thousands of job cuts are "planned" (the headline).
- VincentEvans 4y agoI have FB app installed on my phone for one reason only - occasional search on the Marketplace. And the button that brings up Marketplace is being moved around every time I open the app. Maybe it’s so that I have to look for it every time, and thus forced to see what else is there? I don’t know. But it does feel to me that the company that engages in such cheap tricks can’t be doing that well.
- uoaei 4y agoThey get more from you, in terms of data worth collecting and selling, merely because you have that app installed on your phone, than they get from the couple moments you have it open. Marketplace works fine on the browser too, and with the browser it is much easier to lock down malicious tracking behaviors.
- annexrichmond 4y agoI just posted an item on Marketplace for the first time and in the past day I’ve received messages from over 10 spam accounts. I They all say the same thing and offer to pay for them item before even seeing it, saying their brother or manager will come later in the day Somehow I’ve never received this much spam posting on CL
- coolspot 4y agoSettings & Privacy -> Shortcuts -> Shortcuts bar -> Marketplace -> Pin
- VincentEvans 4y agoI gave this a go in ios app and couldn’t find it. Not saying that your info is wrong, there’s a ton of settings and i am not very familiar with the app - but maybe this this info is not for ios app? And obviously i think, it weird that one would even need a setting to disable a deliberate anti-consumer feature.
- impostersyn13 4y agoSafari
- saos 4y ago> “I obviously can’t sit here and promise you that nothing will happen in the future because it’s a very volatile environment, is the the problem for Meta cuts in advertising and privacy implementation triggered by Apple?
- 999900000999 4y agoTo think of the self loathing I felt when I screwed up a final stage Meta interview a while back. Looks like I would of likely gotten fired anyway. The grass isn't always greener I guess.
- ManuelKiessling 4y agoThe most important rule when doing layoffs: cut once, cut deep. If you don’t cut deep, you won’t cut once.
- Metricon 4y agoWhile I cannot speak to the specific motivations behind these decisions, there is a broader effort at work that is likely influencing these and near future similar actions: https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/job-cuts-alert:-why-more-companies-will-conduct-layoffs-in-2023 https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/job-cuts-alert:-why-more-com...
- monksy 4y agoI wonder if they're the new Hyves?
- stuckinhell 4y agoIt's not over for big tech. I can tell you right now. Nearly all firms are planning more rounds of layoffs. Many in management, have been tasked with identifying core services, critical teams, and high performers.
- tripleaaa 4y ago[dead]