Facebook Parent “Meta” Reduces Lavish Employee Perks

Meta, the corporate parent of Facebook, reduced lavish employee perks amid broader cost-cutting measures across the company.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Wednesday that Meta has been curbing perks as he announced in a memo that the company will slash its headcount by more than 11,000 to become “leaner and more efficient.” 

He took the blame for the layoffs and other belt-tightening measures, saying he got his prediction that a “permanent acceleration” of e-commerce would continue post-pandemic and his subsequent decision to increase investments “wrong.”

“In this new environment, we need to become more capital efficient,” he wrote. “We’ve cut costs across our business, including scaling back budgets, reducing perks, and shrinking our real estate footprint. We’re restructuring teams to increase our efficiency.”

META TO LAY OFF OVER 11K EMPLOYEES

Mark Zuckerberg, via video, speaks at the 2022 SXSW Conference and Festivals at Austin Convention Center on March 15, 2022, in Austin, Texas. (Samantha Burkardt/Getty Images for SXSW / Getty Images)

Citing unnamed employees, The New York Times reported in March that Meta was curbing its free laundry and dry cleaning services for employees. The tech giant also pushed the time that workers in the office qualified for a free dinner back by 30 minutes to 6:30 p.m., after the last shuttle of the day left, according to the outlet.

At the time, a Meta spokesperson told the Times the moves were to “better reflect the needs of our hybrid work force.”

Protocol also reported in March that Meta eliminated its valet parking service, a step that a spokesperson reportedly said was part of efforts to curb emissions. 

Meta did not respond to FOX Business‘ requests for comment.

In the memo announcing the layoffs, Zuckerberg said the company would also be “cutting discretionary spending” and “extending our hiring freeze through Q1 with a small number of exceptions.” Meta plans to focus on “high priority growth areas” including the AI discovery engine, ads and business platforms, and the metaverse, according to the CEO. 

Recruitment teams will be “disproportionately affected” by the layoffs due to plans to “hire fewer people next year,” Zuckerberg said.

META PLATFORMS MISSES ON EPS, SIGNALS BEARISH HIRING IN 2023

During the tech company’s third-quarter earnings call last month, Zuckerberg said Meta expected to “end 2023 as either roughly the same size or even a slightly smaller organization than we are today” in aggregate. It employed 87,300 people at the end of September.

Meta generated $27.71 billion in quarterly revenue, a 4% drop from the same period last year, but above the $27.38 billion estimated by analysts. 

Its net income came in at about $4.4 billion, dropping 52% year over year. Earnings per share for the quarter was $1.64, below analyst estimates of $1.89.

The Meta logo sign is seen at the company headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on, Oct. 28, 2021. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar, File / AP Images)

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In the company’s outlook for the fourth quarter, Meta projected between $30 and $32.5 billion in total revenue.

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