Meta to cut 10,000 more jobs, eliminate 5,000 openings

• Sara Fischer, author of Axios Media Trends

Meta is laying off 10,000 people and cutting 5,000 open roles as part of a larger plan to flatten the company's management structure, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Tuesday.

Why it matters: It's the second round of layoffs to hit the tech giant in the past few months. In November, Meta cut 13% of its staff — or more than 11,000 people.

• At the time, those cuts represented Meta's first-ever widespread layoffs after years of rapid hiring.

Between the lines: The first round of cuts was attributed to broader efforts to withstand any further downturn in the economy, the company said at the time.

• This round is meant to refocus the company's workforce around strategic priorities, Zuckerberg said. "Flatter is faster" and "leaner is better" are two of the company's several driving principles as it reorganizes, he noted.
• As a result, the company plans to cancel a number of "lower priority" projects. On Monday, for example, the company said it would wind down support for NFTs on Facebook and Instagram.

Zoom in: In a blog post, Zuckerberg said the company will first be reducing the size of its recruiting team to account for lower hiring rates.

• It will announce further restructuring and layoffs in its tech departments in late April and then in its business departments in late May.
• In a small number of cases, Zuckerberg noted, it may take through the end of the year to complete those changes.
• Following the broader restructuring, Meta plans to lift hiring and transfer freezes in each group.

The big picture: The cuts come as Meta tries to recover from what was one of its most challenging years ever financially in 2022.

• The company lost more than 70% of its value last year, making it one of the worst performers in the S&P 500.

• It reported three consecutive quarters of year-over-year revenue declines during its first-quarter earnings report in February.

Flashback: Zuckerberg first hinted at cuts in February, when he wrote in a blog post that Meta's management theme for 2023 is the "Year of Efficiency."

• "We closed last year with some difficult layoffs and restructuring some teams. When we did this, I said clearly that this was the beginning of our focus on efficiency and not the end," he wrote.
• "Next, we're working on flattening our org structure and removing some layers of middle management to make decisions faster, as well as deploying AI tools to help our engineers be more productive."

What to watch: Zuckerberg teased other cultural changes as a part of the cuts, including prioritizing more in-office work and a greater emphasis on engineering.

• "As part of the Year of Efficiency, we're focusing on returning to a more optimal ratio of engineers to other roles," he wrote.