Meta has reportedly rehired “dozens” of the 21,000 employees who have been laid off as part of Mark Zuckerberg’s massive cost-cutting push since last year.
The Facebook and Instagram parent brought back the laid-off workers in recent weeks, Insider reported on Thursday, citing three sources familiar with the company’s moves.
While Meta has largely halted hiring as part of Zuckerberg’s so-called “year of efficiency,” the report said the company has “quietly picked up hiring in certain areas” during a recent upturn in Meta’s fortunes.
The new hires are reportedly in engineering and technical roles.
The exact number who have rejoined Meta was not immediately clear.
The Post has reached out to Meta for comment on the report.
The career board on Meta’s website still features an array of job openings, including many engineering-focused roles, in locations around the country. Insider said the company has “hundreds” of open roles despite Zuckerberg’s austerity measures.
Ousted employees are purportedly able to re-apply for jobs at Meta through an “alumni portal.”
Experienced former Meta engineers with strong performance histories at the company have been most likely to be rehired, and many are taking gigs with less seniority and lower pay, according to the report.
In general, Meta is said to be focused on bringing in employees with more career experience in the limited hiring cycle.
Zuckerberg hinted at Meta’s hiring plans during the company’s most recent earnings call on July 26, noting that he would be “continuing to run the company as lean as possible” and headcount growth would be “relatively low.”
“That said, as part of this year’s layoffs, many teams chose to let people go in order to hire different people with different skills that they need, so much of that hiring is going to spill into 2024,” Zuckerberg said.
Meta is in the midst of a hot streak, bolstered in large part by improved financial results and investor enthusiasm over Zuckerberg’s cost-cutting moves.
The company laid off about 21,000 employees, or roughly a quarter of its previous workforce, in multiple rounds that concluded in May.
The company’s stock has surged more than 145% to nearly $306 per share since January. The most recent uptick occurred after Meta beat Wall Street’s expectations for ad revenue in its second-quarter results.
The company also generated major buzz with its launch of Threads, a text-based social media app that has emerged as a direct threat to X, the Elon Musk-owned company formerly known as Twitter.
Threads generated more than 100 million downloads after its debut last month, though more than half of that user base has since departed.
The stock rally has occurred despite revelations that Meta’s Reality Labs division has lost more than $21 billion as Zuckerberg pours money into developing metaverse technology.
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