At the end of September, Meta employed around 87,000 people, the majority of whom, according to reports, were employed by the Reality Labs branch.
According to reports, social networking and technology behemoth Meta is preparing for "large-scale layoffs" this week due to mounting costs and a recent decline in its share price.
The anticipated layoffs might affect thousands of workers across Meta's 87,000-strong workforce, according to a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report from Nov. 6 that cited people familiar with the situation. It is unclear at this time whether Reality Labs, a branch of the company, which reported a $3.7 billion deficit in the third quarter, would make worker reductions.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, announced last week that the company would concentrate its investment on "a small number of high-priority development areas," including the Metaverse, its Artificial Intelligence (AI) Discovery Engine, and its advertising and business messaging platforms.
The billionaire businessman appeared to reiterate his support for the company's efforts in these sectors during the earnings call, stating they should "maintain actively investing in these areas" because they are "on the right route with these investments."
Despite this, it appears that the corporation is still continuously recruiting for positions in its metaverse division, as evidenced by the fact that 38 of the 413 job postings on its list of openings relate to augmented reality and virtual reality. After contacting Meta for clarification and to inquire about potential changes to its metaverse section, Cointelegraph did not immediately hear back.