Meta will say goodbye to Giphy, why?
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(CNN) --
Meta, Facebook's parent company, is planning the first large-scale layoffs in its history, according to reports, as the company's business contracts and fears of an economic downturn persist.
The job cuts are expected to affect thousands of workers and could begin as early as this week, The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter.
Meta has more than 87,000 employees, according to a report filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in September.
Meta declined to comment on the report.
In a conference call last month to discuss third-quarter results, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he expects the company to end 2023 "with the same size, or even a slightly smaller organization than today." ".
Facebook announces closure of its gaming app 0:44
The drop in revenue from Meta
The potential cuts come at a time of tightening advertiser budgets and Apple's changes to privacy in iOS that have affected Meta's core business.
Last month, the company posted its second quarterly revenue decline and reported that its profit had halved from a year earlier.
The drop in profitability is largely due to the billions Meta is spending to build a future version of the Internet called the Metaverse, which is likely years away.
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Meta, which had a market capitalization of more than $1 trillion last year, is now valued at about $250 billion.
(Following news of the job cuts, Meta shares opened more than 5% higher Monday morning.)
Meta is far from the only technology company that is rethinking the hiring of personnel.
In a surprising change for a sector sometimes seen as untouchable, several tech companies have announced hiring freezes or job cuts in recent months, often after experiencing rapid growth during the pandemic.
Last week, ride-sharing company Lyft said it would lay off 13% of its employees, while payment processing company Stripe reported a 14% cut in staff.
On the same day, e-commerce giant Amazon said it was going to pause corporate hiring.
Twitter on Friday made big cuts across the company under its new owner, Elon Musk.
The cuts affected its Ethics AI team,
Marketing
and Communications, Search and Public Policy, among other departments.
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However, in the days since, Twitter reportedly asked dozens of laid-off employees to return, according to Bloomberg.
