Meta Layoffs Impacts Top Indian Execs

Facebook parent Meta has reportedly let go of two senior executives in India during the latest round of global layoffs amid a large-scale restructuring.

According to a Reuters report, Avinash Pant, the director of marketing and Saket Jha Saurabh, the director and head of media partnerships, were both fired as part of Meta’s restructuring plan, which started on Wednesday (May 24).

The layoffs are said to have impacted several business and operations units, including marketing, site security, enterprise engineering, program management, content strategy, and corporate communications. Over the past few hours, several impacted employees have taken to LinkedIn to report their unfortunate job losses.

Meta has also reportedly cut the number of employees from privacy and integrity units.

Incidentally, the top-level exits at Meta also come as its India unit has seen significant upheaval at the top. As many as five top executives of the social media giant in India have quit over the past six months, an exodus that started with Meta India head Ajit Mohan leaving in November 2022.

However, despite widespread layoffs, Meta has seen significant growth in its market cap as its share value more than doubled this year. Over the past six months, Meta’s share value has increased by 2.37X, going from $111.41 apiece in November 2022 to $249.21 as of May 24, 2023.

Analysts have put down the surge in Meta’s shares to its cost-cutting efforts and increased focus on artificial intelligence, as the social media giant has launched several AI-based solutions.

Layoffs Galore At Meta

The development at Meta coincides with the company’s announcement of a second major round of layoffs a couple of months ago, which resulted in the termination of an additional 10,000 employees and the closure of 5,000 open positions. This second round of layoffs occurred shortly after Meta had already fired over 11,000 employees.

Previously, Mark Zuckerberg had mentioned that the majority of the layoffs in the second round would be carried out in three phases over several months. However, it is still possible that smaller rounds of layoffs may occur after this period.

The impact of the layoffs at the social media giant was primarily felt in non-engineering roles, reflecting the company’s position to bring a better balance between engineering and non-engineering roles within the workforce.

During a town hall meeting, Zuckerberg revealed that around 4,000 employees lost their jobs in April, following a smaller reduction in recruiting teams in March.

Meta’s decision to implement these layoffs is a response to a period of declining revenue growth, which was driven by high inflation and a decrease in digital advertising.