Meta's India staff on edge
New Delhi: India employees of Meta, the firm that owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, have been thrown off-guard after the US firm announced 11,000 layoffs globally or 13 per cent of its workforce.
While no country-specific numbers have yet been disclosed, Meta's India staff are looking for clues on their future.
Company officials went incommunicado soon after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg made public a letter he had written to employees announcing the job cuts.
Meta's rival Twitter had just last week fired more than 90 per cent of its just over 200 India staff as part of a global reduction by new owner Elon Musk.
To handle multiple operations for Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, Meta has an estimated 300-400 employees in India. The smallest team of 60-plus is with WhatsApp.
India is a key growth engine for Meta Platforms Ltd, Twitter, Alphabet Inc's Google and other global internet companies.
These firms reaped a financial boost during the Covid pandemic lockdown era because more people stayed home and scrolled on their phones and computers. But firms are now faced with a rising in interest rates, which has increased outgo on the money they borrowed for expansions. This together with a grim outlook for online advertising amid an economic slowdown has added to their woes.
This summer, Meta posted its first quarterly revenue decline in history, followed by another, bigger decline in the fall.
According to Musk, Twitter is losing $4 million per day.
US-based companies, including many tech firms, have cumulatively laid off thousands of employees in 2022 alone and slammed the brakes on hiring. The storm clouds over the global economy have prompted economic commentators to flash warnings about recession risks up ahead and international market shocks.
"We are not providing details on specific team impact," Meta India said in response to an email seeking comments on country-specific impact.
Earlier this month, Meta India head Ajit Mohan resigned from the company to join rival Snap from February.
