Meta Layoffs: Meta, Facebook’s parent company, is reportedly overhauling its hardware division, Reality Labs, marking its most substantial reorganisation since it was renamed in 2020. According to a report by The Verge, this restructuring will also result in layoffs. This step underscores Meta’s evolving strategy, which focuses on augmented reality (AR) and the Metaverse.
Meta has not disclosed the precise number of employees affected by these layoffs. The report suggests that the reductions are modest and primarily target redundant leadership positions following the new organisational setup.
The restructuring consolidates Reality Labs into two main groups: Metaverse, which incorporates the Quest headset line, Horizon (Meta’s social network), and associated technologies, and Wearables, which encompasses Meta’s remaining hardware initiatives, including its collaboration on smart glasses with Ray-Ban.
In an internal memo obtained by the publication, Bosworth describes Meta’s latest smart glasses collaboration with Ray-Ban as “a much bigger success than we expected,” hinting at the company’s future roadmap for AR glasses. It was previously reported that Meta is preparing a version of the Ray-Bans that includes a heads-up display and a wristband featuring a neural interface to control the glasses. Concurrently, Meta is advancing in the development of its high-cost AR glasses, which are equipped with full holographic displays and are known internally as Orion.
“We have the leading AI device on the market right now, and we are doubling down on finding a strong product market fit for wearable Meta AI, building a business around it, and expanding the audience. Our north star to overlay digital content seamlessly onto the physical world remains the same, but the steps on that path just got a lot more exciting,” Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth wrote in his memo.
“We are deeply committed to investing in Horizon as the core foundation of our social, spatial Horizon OS, and high-quality experiences for both mixed reality and mobile,” Bosworth added.
“The org chart doesn’t primarily determine whether we succeed or fail, our execution does. But by setting it up this way I hope we reduce overhead and allow people across teams to come together and execute with a more unified view of who our customers are and how we can best serve them,” he said, as per the report.
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