Well, so far as I’ve heard Zuck hasn’t been given the layoff notice he so richly deserves, but according to Thomas Jay Thompson on LinkedIn, he’s giving them out to employees working on his former baby …
Meta Plans to Cut Reality Labs Jobs as Spending Shifts Toward A.I.
Just read in The New York Times that Meta has reportedly decided to reduce headcount in its Reality Labs division. This reflects a meaningful shift in how one of the world’s largest technology companies is allocating capital in response to consumer behavior.
While the cuts represent a small share of Meta’s overall workforce, they are concentrated in the unit most closely associated with its long term metaverse strategy.
Economically, this is less about layoffs and more about revealed demand. The metaverse was positioned as an inevitable evolution of digital interaction, commerce, and social connection. Yet sustained investment did not translate into mass adoption.
Which I read to mean Metaverse is an official flop, as many have predicted, and it’s the employees who are taking the hit for Zuck’s misreading of the future.
When it should be Zuck.
Look, I don’t monitor Meta Platforms, yet I’m aware this is at least the second big project disaster in his tenure, the first being the mishandling of Facebook through avarice in the form of the Cambridge Analytica debacle and the overly commercial aspect of Facebook.
But with 95+% of their revenues coming from advertising, blunders that drive away users is the mark of a disaster waiting to happen. The board of Meta Platforms should seriously consider getting rid of Zuck.
