from Hacker News

Mark Zuckerberg confirms broad layoffs to begin at Meta

by cadence- on 11/9/22, 3:53 AM with 195 comments

• by jerojero on 11/9/22, 4:46 AM

  Four months salary as severance seems like a really good deal to me. I don't think it will be difficult for anyone with Facebook in their resume to be re-hired.

  Although losing your job is difficult, it seems to me like I would much rather be fired from Facebook than Twitter.

  In any case, it's always jarring seeing CEO's saying: "I take responsibility for these troubled times... by firing thousands of employees". I remember a couple years ago when Nintendo was having problems then all the top execs lowered their compensations. I wonder if top execs at Facebook are also doing that? (doubt it).

• by jstx1 on 11/9/22, 8:13 AM

  Layoffs at the top companies put downward pressure on the entire job market - fewer open positions, less mobility for everyone, more competition... if you're working at an average non-tech company and want to move up in salary, now you're competing with a bunch of people who have big tech on their resume and who were good enough to pass the big tech interview loop in the past.

• by jstx1 on 11/9/22, 8:08 AM

  From their Q3 earnings report 2 weeks ago (https://s21.q4cdn.com/399680738/files/doc_news/Meta-Reports-...):

  > we expect headcount at the end of 2023 will be approximately in-line with third quarter 2022 levels

  Was that a lie or are they re-hiring in the future?

• by cupofjoakim on 11/9/22, 8:34 AM

  If Meta is removing non-essential employees I wonder if we could see the core react team having to leave at some point. That could be quite the shift for frontend work.

• by homeland221 on 11/9/22, 8:45 AM

  Meta name is cursed. The slide begins the moment they changed from FB.

• by nicolashahn on 11/9/22, 6:08 PM

  Some data from the inside:

  RL hit less hard than the rest of the company. No one on my team or adjacent teams let go.

  Most bootcampers are gone, even ones that were performing well.

  Low performer from my past team outside RL was let go, so it appears performance was a factor for a lot of roles, rather than just axing entire teams based on business need.

• by SilverBirch on 11/9/22, 9:33 AM

  I think we all know that how this is received will be entirely down to where the cuts come. If the cuts come in the Metaverse R&D, the stock price will jump and everyone will be more or less happy - you can believe in the Metaverse and that project and still understand it is a massive overinvestment. If the cuts come in the legacy business with the Metaverse protected I think that will be an indication that no Meta shareholders can honestly expect to see the revenue from the social media business, Zuckerberg will burn it all before he hands it back to shareholders, so in that case this could be a horrible performing stock. And of course that's important because most people at Meta have significant stock based comp.

• by justinator on 11/9/22, 8:01 AM

  Just in time for Christmas.

• by radar1310 on 11/9/22, 9:16 AM

  Merry Christmas Meta.

• by Eumenes on 11/9/22, 12:25 PM

  These severance packages are very generous

• by saos on 11/9/22, 10:34 AM

  > Meta’s head of human resources, Lori Goler, said employees who lose their jobs will be provided with at least four months of salary as severance

  That is sweet. Can enjoy the holidays

  > Zuckerberg said he was accountable for the company’s downturn

  Lol then reduce your stock size? Offer your employees your money. Honestly, all these CEOs coming out with the same line is just nonsense