The permanent push for efficiency at Meta is creating an ongoing drip of layoffs.
Messenger, the popular direct-messaging app within Facebook, was hit with a round of layoffs this week, according to two people familiar with the company. The cuts, which affected fewer than 50 employees, were part of a reorganization of Messenger and its operations.
The cuts at Messenger followed a similar layoff that affected some employees working at Instagram, as Business Insider reported. Both organizations are said to have eliminated many technical-program-manager roles, effectively folding such work into the role of product managers. After Instagram removed the TPM position, other parts of Meta, including the Facebook organization in which Messenger sits, were expected to do the same, BI reported.
A company spokesman declined to comment beyond saying Meta's efficiency work was ongoing.
Although CEO Mark Zuckerberg dubbed 2023 his "year of efficiency" (laying off more than 20,000 employees, eliminating some manager roles, and putting an end to years of "hyper-growth"), he decided this year to keep it in place for the foreseeable future. This has led to a culture shift within Meta, with some managers taking pride in finding places to cut costs or slim down teams. A related spate of reorganizations is creating a sense of constant anxiety among some workers.
The Facebook business last year underwent a structural change to simplify how it operates. It also was hit with layoffs, and cuts were expected to continue within the organization this year. It remains Meta's largest organization in terms of head count, with the most mature tools and platforms.
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Correction: March 7, 2024 — An earlier version of this story included outdated information about the announcement of Meta's first dividend. This information has been removed.
