Meta Platforms Inc., formerly known as Facebook, is reportedly preparing for a significant staff adjustment in its Reality Labs division.
The organization has already seen two rounds of layoffs since 2022. Reuters has gathered from individuals close to the situation that the Menlo Park-based company has already informed its staff about the layoffs.
According to the article, the adjustments will impact Facebook Agile Silicon Team, a division tasked with creating unique chips for Meta’s augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) products.
Unknown numbers of people are expected to be let go, according to Reuters, who also reports that the unit “has roughly 600 employees.” One of the insiders told the newspaper that Meta wants to focus on “less bulky AR glasses” that look more like ordinary spectacles in light of the layoffs.
The parent firm of Facebook and Instagram is rumored to finish the first iteration of these glasses in 2024. However, no release date was specified. This is the second round of job cuts for Meta since November 2022, when the business eliminated 11,000 positions in an effort to reduce costs in the face of strong inflation and worries over Reality Labs’ high burn rate.
Since its launch in Q2, 2020, Reality Labs has lost close to $34 billion in operational expenses as of publication. Meta intends to focus even more on the metaverse in spite of the layoffs.
In order to meet its “goal of growing overall company operating income in the long run,” the corporation stated that it planned to pace Reality Labs investments beyond 2023.
