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Meta plans thousands more layoffs as soon as this week

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Re: Meta plans thousands more layoffs as soon as this week

#171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love it when megacorps misinvest billions. Opens space for a competition that didn't.

It's actually kind of amazing that there's not any real consequence to making that bad call. It sucked up a lot of energy, lots of people tried to stake and early adopter position in the metaverse and it turns out everyone just didn't want that. I think they could have made more money if they built games into facebook. At probably a fraction of the cost really.

Reminds me of Marks 'pivot to video' on facebook [0]

https://www.niemanlab.org/2021/09/well-this-puts-a-nail-in-t...

Re: Meta plans thousands more layoffs as soon as this week

#172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

b) and c) It is exactly Mark’s plan. He called 2023 “the year of efficiency”, meaning that he wants to flatten the whole organization and get closer to startup velocity (and cost). He communicated this theme during performance reviews, as suggested by the article.

It takes a certain kind of cold detatchment to hire 5,000-10,000 people to r&d and build the foundation of your next big thing - drain every ounce of life out of them then discard them on the heap a couple of years later.

While I agree with your sentiment, this is a nasty business, I would like to think we also all know the game now. Do people go to work at Facebook[1], Amazon, etc., expecting to still be working there long enough to see their kids graduate and go off to college?

[1] I'm still not going to call it "Meta" any more than I am going to call "Star Wars" "Star Wars IV: New Hope".

Re: Meta plans thousands more layoffs as soon as this week

#173
post #80

I wonder what effects this uncertainty will have on an organizational system. With multiple rounds of layoffs, talks of 'flattening', projects being cancelled, internal transfers being frozen, hiring being frozen, when does an organization finally become 'healthy' again? When are the right people in the right places making the right decisions again? Does an organization that has so much capital need to even care abou…

> hiring being frozen I don't know when they made that decision but a recruiter contacted me from meta last week. I wonder how far do people go through the hiring pipeline before the "stop the engines" signal arrives. Hopefully not after the offer has been accepted.

> Hopefully not after the offer has been accepted.

It has happened. Also happened that people were laid off soon after starting to work.

Re: Meta plans thousands more layoffs as soon as this week

#174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There definitely has been a sentiment change on meta, but I think 'COVID-tech-mania' is a poor excuse for them failing to effectively diversify.

And yet when they try to diversify to VR people say they should focus on what makes them money...

I suspect the people that said that though thought that VR was a bad place for anyone to throw money. (I happen to agree.)

Re: Meta plans thousands more layoffs as soon as this week

#176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

b) and c) It is exactly Mark’s plan. He called 2023 “the year of efficiency”, meaning that he wants to flatten the whole organization and get closer to startup velocity (and cost). He communicated this theme during performance reviews, as suggested by the article.

It takes a certain kind of cold detatchment to hire 5,000-10,000 people to r&d and build the foundation of your next big thing - drain every ounce of life out of them then discard them on the heap a couple of years later.

So, if you know you’re doing research on a new product that as far from a sure bet, don’t you have enough self awareness to save a fair amount of your outsized Facebook compensation, sell your RSUs as soon as they vest and diversify and be ready to interview?

Or am I just old and not naive and start doing the same thing they do I got my first check + prorated sign on bonus when I was hired at BigTech almost 3 years ago?

Re: Meta plans thousands more layoffs as soon as this week

#177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Meta really doesn't get the whole gaming console business. They got too excited with the technology for technology sake, and drank too much of the Snowcrash-esque kool-aid to realize that the most obvious target audience to drive meaningful usage is harcore gamers. And the novelty of Beat Saber will only go so far; you really need AAA titles and publishers. But this would mean investing heavily in tools and S…

> the most obvious target audience to drive meaningful usage is harcore gamers. And the novelty of Beat Saber will only go so far; you really need AAA titles and publishers. I really feel like what you need is omni-directional treadmills. I really like VR rhythm games, but for most other games beyond that feel like you really need some more natural way of moving around. The only exception to that would be things wher…

> I really feel like what you need is omni-directional treadmills.

Gaming platforms (and games) that require dedicated hardware are a very tough sell.

Gaming platforms (and games) that require a gaming rig that probably costs >$1k, that is really big (2m x 2m, from what I see) and that weighs 200kgs are close to impossible to sell, I'd imagine.

Re: Meta plans thousands more layoffs as soon as this week

#178
post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like many tech companies during zero interest rates, they over hired and did not anticipate interest rates going up so fast. At least these employees probably made a ton of money.

This has nothing to do with interest rates, none of these companies are borrowing to hire. And Meta, Amazon, Salesforce etc are only shedding excess pandemic hires. If you look at a graph of hires over a decade, the pandemic shows a huge blip up, and these layoffs correct that.

It does if they use their stock price as a benchmark, which they do if it is a part of their compensation. Higher interest rates push investors to sell their Facebook shares and buy bonds instead. This means that Facebook needs to earn higher profits in order to pull its stock price upwards. Low-IRR projects are eliminated and with them the people who worked on them.

Re: Meta plans thousands more layoffs as soon as this week

#179
post #158
post #88

Two rounds of layoffs seems to say something that one round doesn't. You would expect that all things being equal there is never a scenario where it is better to do two cuts instead of just one. So why? a) things were much worse than realised. Maybe but it would have to be a big shock coming because Meta's general performance has held up OK, certainly nothing that would warrant this. b) HR reasons? some sort of requi…

Could it be that since Twitter hasn't collapsed yet people are trying to pull a Musk headcount-wise (albeit in a better executed manner) ?

[deleted]

Re: Meta plans thousands more layoffs as soon as this week

#180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I understand, he would like to be remembered similarly to Steve Jobs, as an inventor of the future. I think this was his way of doing that.

People loved Steve Jobs though whereas people hate Mark.

Not everyone loves Steve Jobs. Lots of people don't. I don't.

I do hate that Zuck ruined the word meta for everyone.

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