Meta Platforms Inc. will attempt to cut costs by about 10% over the next few months, which will mean a bit of a shakeup at the company, the Wall Street Journal reported today.

People familiar with the situation told the Journal that rather than outright lay people off, the route being taken is to shuffle various departments but give workers a short time to find a new position, thereby effectively pushing them out. The report said these staff members are given very little time to secure a new position.

It isn’t unusual for a company to initiate such a shuffle, and generally, since Meta usually employs pretty smart staff, people would normally be able to find new positions. The person familiar with the matter said that’s not what’s happening this time around, stating that “workers with good reputations and strong performance reviews are being pushed out on a regular basis.”

The company, while always at the center of controversy, has lately been hit where it hurts. When Meta posted its second-quarter results earlier this year, the outlook didn’t look very good. Its earnings per share were way down from the same time the year before, and it saw a drop in revenue for the first time.

Meta blamed the poor results on the economic slowdown, which led to a “continuation of the weak advertising demand environment we experienced throughout the second quarter.” Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said in July that the company would lose some of its staff over the coming year, saying Meta would “get more done with fewer resources.” With a reported 22% increase in costs and expenses over the year estimated to come to about $20.4 billion, it’s no surprise the company is fine-tuning its payroll.

In July, Chief Product Officer Chris Cox said as much in a memo to staff when he told staff these were “serious times.” He added, “We need to execute flawlessly in an environment of slower growth, where teams should not expect vast influxes of new engineers and budgets.”

At the same time, Meta has had to reinvent itself while watching the popularity of apps such as TikTok rise. Nonetheless, Meta has some tricks up its long sleeves. The company hasn’t exactly put all its eggs in one basket, but it is certainly investing heavily in what it believes will be the future of social technology: the metaverse. The company is currently working a lot, and spending a lot, to ensure pervasive augmented and virtual reality becomes a reality.

Photo: Anthony Quintano/Flickr