Facebook owner Meta told employees on November 11 that they will stop developing smartphones and smartwatches.
Nearly half of the 11,000 workers they took off this week in an unprecedented cut-off with technology development roles.
According to Reuters, Meta's executives also said that they are reorganizing the company's departments, combining the voice and video calling unit with other messaging groups and forming a new department, Family Foundations, focusing on complex technical issues.
They also said that the first mass layoff in the 18-year history of the social media company has affected employees at all levels and teams, including individuals with high performance ratings.
In general, 54% of those fired are in business positions and the rest are in technology roles, said Lori Goler, Meta's human resources director.
Meta's recruitment team has been cut in half, she said. The executives also said they do not expect further cuts.
However, other costs will have to be cut and assessments of contractors, real estate, computer infrastructure as well as various products are being conducted.
Cut down on smart devices
Technology Director Andrew Bosworth - who runs reality Lab in Metaverse - told Meta employees that he will stop developing Portal smart display devices and smartwatches.
Earlier this year, Meta decided to stop marketing Portal devices, known for video calling capabilities, and focus on sales and business, according to Mr. Bosworth. As the economy dips, executives have recently decided to make bigger changes, he said.
It will take too much time and too much investment to penetrate the business segment, which is the wrong way to invest time and money, Mr. Bosworth added.
Mr. Bosworth said that the smartwatch unit will focus on enhanced reality glasses. In addition, more than half of the total investment in reality reality reality will be for reality.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg reiterated his apology on November 9 for having to cut 13 percent of his workforce, telling employees that he had not predicted Meta's first revenue decline.
Meta has taken a strong hand during the pandemic and hired a large number of new employees. However, business operations have been affected this year as advertisers and consumers have cut spending.
The company also faces increasing competition from TikTok and losing access to its valuable user data after Apple made security changes to the iOS operating system.
"The revenue trend is much lower than I predicted. Once again, I was wrong. It was a big mistake in planning for the company. I take responsibility for that," said CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
