Meta layoffs: A timeline of the company’s staff cuts and hiring freezes

• Meta undertook what it dubbed its “year of efficiency” in 2023, laying off thousands of employees.
• So far, 2024 has seen its own share of cuts, and workers are facing a new culture of “intensity.”
• Here’s a timeline of the tech giant’s recent layoffs and hiring freezes.

April 2016

In 2016, Meta laid off around 40 account management and sales staff in its publisher adtech division, Business Insider previously reported. The layoffs occurred after it shuttered certain products in its video supply-side platform LiveRail, which it acquired in 2014.

May 2017

A year later, the tech giant shut down its virtual reality film division two years after its launch. The move into VR followed its $2 billion acquisition of Oculus VR in 2014.

2020-2021

As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, Meta pushed into remote work, Insider previously reported. Zuckerberg said at the time that as much as 50% of its workforce might be working remotely by 2030.

In October 2021, the company said it endeavored to add 10,000 people to its workforce as it rebranded to Meta. The firm boosted hiring as part of Zuckerberg’s pursuit to build a “metaverse,” a virtual space accessed through AR and VR headsets. 

May 2022

After experiencing slower revenue than anticipated in its metaverse pivot, the newly-rebranded firm implemented an expansive hiring freeze across the entire firm in May 2022, according to internal memos seen by Insider. 

September 2022

In September, the company extended that hiring freeze as it warned employees of a possible restructuring. Zuckerberg said in a weekly Q&A with staffers that most team budgets would be reduced, according to a Bloomberg report.

The company subsequently conducted what employees called “quiet layoffs” by placing around 15% of its workforce on performance-improvement plans in a bid to encourage turnover, Insider reported.

The firm also experienced a leadership shakeup in the same month, with major executive departures from COO Sheryl Sandberg and Amin Zoufonoun, who was responsible for its acquisition of Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus.

Late 2022

In November, Meta made formal staff cuts by culling 10,000 of its employees. The layoffs amounted to 13% of its workforce.

December saw the firm strip back its health, wellness, and transportation benefits to cut costs. Two employees told Insider that a mental health benefit, for example, would be cut to $2,000 from $3,000 beginning in 2023. John Carmack, who served as consulting CTO to Meta VR, also resigned during this month.

It also upped the ante on its January performance reviews to create room for further staff reductions. Insider reported that Meta wanted its managers to rank twice as many employees in its lowest performance-review categories.

February 2023

February saw middle managers come into the firing line at Meta as Zuckerberg proclaimed 2023 as its “year of efficiency.”

Sources told Bloomberg that the tech giant asked some managers and directors to quit or move to different roles to flatten its org structure.

March 2023

Meta’s “year of efficiency” continued nued the following month by announcing it was laying off another 10,000 workers in a second wave of cuts. Zuckerberg also said that the company will close around 5,000 of the job positions it had yet to fill.

Spring 2024

Meta’s steady drip of job cuts continued into 2024, with layoffs hitting Instagram and Facebook Messenger, and more were expected.

October 2024

Meta laid some employees on Instagram, WhatsApp, and Reality Labs, the company’s VR and AR division.

“A few teams at Meta are making changes to ensure resources are aligned with their long-term strategic goals and location strategy,” a Meta spokesperson told BI of the cuts. “This includes moving some teams to different locations, and moving some employees to different roles.”

Current jobs at Meta

Amid the turmoil, however, Meta appears to still be hiring. There are upward of 1,200 jobs advertised on its careers website globally as of mid-October 2024.

But new hires shouldn’t expect an easy ride at the tech giant, as Zuckerberg’s “year of efficiency” strategy continues. Business Insider previously reported that promotions are now much harder to obtain in Meta’s new culture of “intensity” that aims to weed out underperformers.

Additional reporting by Tom Matsuda.