DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Meta Reality Labs exec explains why VR spending will remain high
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailMeta Reality Labs exec explains why VR spending will remain highAsh Jhaveri, vice president in Meta Platforms' Reality Labs division, tells the CNBC Technology Executive Council that spending on VR will remain high despite cost cuts at the company.

☆ Meta Reality Labs VP: Company's building a brand new computing platform and it's not cheap
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

In this videoShare Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailMeta Reality Labs VP: Company's building a brand new computing platform and it's not cheapCNBC's Steve Kovach and the Halftime Report's investment committee looks at Meta's spending, and the company's metaverse ambitions.

☆ Alphabet must cut headcount and trim costs, activist investor TCI says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Rohan Goswami | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

TCI's stake represents 0.27% of outstanding Alphabet shares, according to Factset data, a position that the hedge fund has steadily accumulated since 2017. TCI noted that headcount has "increased at an annual rate of 20% since 2017," the year that TCI first disclosed their Alphabet position. TCI argued for an increase in share buybacks and the establishment of an EBIT margin target for Google Services. Significantly, TCI argued that Google's "Other Bets" category – their Moonshot division – demanded immediate attention, singling out self-driving vertical Waymo as a unit that failed to justify "its excessive investment." Alphabet shares are down more than 30% year-to-date.

☆ Amazon's job cut plans show that tech isn't out of the woods just yet
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Matt Weinberger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Indeed, as Insider reported last week, Mark Zuckerberg isn't ruling out the possibility of more layoffs at Meta. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy Dan DeLong/GeekWire1. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg Photo by Liu Jie/Xinhua via Getty2. The tech titans are known for paying the big bucks, but that's not the only way to make it in tech. Tech leaders like Ancestry CEO Deb Liu and Scale AI CEO Lucy Guo will appear on stage.

☆ Inside the week that changed Facebook forever: Record Meta layoffs have sowed confusion and rising anger among employees who are beginning to lash out at CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-12 | by ( Kali Hays | Rob Price | Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Meta let go of 11,000 employees, and it's not clear which divisions and roles were most affected. After a harrowing week of record layoffs at Meta, CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other executives convened a town hall meeting on Friday for everyone who survived the cull. During the Q&A part of the call, an employee asked a question referring to Twitter's job cuts, and Zuckerberg weighed in, according to people who attended. Roughly 11,000 staff were let go, the first major job cuts in the company's 18-year history. Analysts at Jefferies called it a "Zuck U-Turn" in a research note to clients, saying the job cuts will boost profits while not impacting Meta's growth trajectory.

☆ Investors have been fleeing Big Tech for 'old economy' stocks. Here’s what it means for our holdings
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

The largely abysmal results for the last quarter led Jim Cramer to urge investors to limit their exposure to tech and semiconductor stocks . The market cap of the Club's five Big Tech stocks are collectively down 42% over the last 12 months, as of Thursday's close, according to FactSet. Here's a closer look at each of our tech stock's valuation changes, along with our analysis, too. Being close to its 5-year average valuation doesn't make it the most enticing P/E compared to other tech stocks whose valuations have dropped more than their historical averages. Meta Platforms (META) Meta currently trades at 13.6 times forward earnings estimates, compared with the 5-year average of 21.8 times.

☆ Nearly half Meta job cuts were in tech, execs say
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/3] Morning commute traffic streams past the Meta sign outside the headquarters of Facebook parent company Meta Platforms Inc in Mountain View, California, U.S. November 9, 2022. REUTERS/Peter DaSilva/File PhotoNov 11 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms (META.O) told employees on Friday that 54% of the 11,000 jobs it cut earlier this week were business roles and the rest were in technology. The Facebook parent said on Wednesday it was slashing 13% of its workforce, the first mass layoffs in the company's 18-year history. Following the layoffs, Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg had addressed employees, saying that revenue was much lower than he expected. Like its peers, Meta aggressively hired during the pandemic to meet a surge in social media usage by stuck-at-home consumers.

☆ Meta employees are shell-shocked and angry after Mark Zuckerberg laid off 11,000 workers. Remaining staff are still unsure exactly who got fired.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Kali Hays | Rob Price | Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Meta let go of 11,000 employees, and it's not clear which divisions and roles were most affected. Shortly before a somber video call with tens of thousands of employees on Wednesday, Mark Zuckerberg hosted a smaller call with managers at Meta. Zuckerberg fielded questions from managers asking how laid-off employees were chosen and how long the plan had been in the works. "Class act as always," one departing employee said sarcastically of Zuckerberg's call for laid-off workers. "This will add up to a meaningful cultural shift in how we operate," Zuckerberg told remaining employees.

Employees' heads are reeling from the sheer scale of the layoffs, Insider reported Thursday. "People really didn't expect layoffs at that scale, even after the news," one employee who was spared from the layoffs told Insider. Those who didn't survive the layoffs are attributing them to Zuckerberg's poor leadership. A former recruiter at the company even said, "It took very poor leadership and mismanagement to get us in this position." One told Insider that the 38-year-old CEO "clearly appeared emotional" while addressing his new, downsized lot.

On Wednesday, Meta abruptly shut down Quitter, an internal tool that lets employees see who left. Meta is also letting go of employees across Family of Apps and Reality Labs, according to an internal memo. The firm laid off 11,000 employees to cut costs after losing billions of dollars in revenue. Before Quitter was shuttered, Meta employees could use the tool to see data about how many people were leaving the company and track attrition trends. Meta is providing 16 weeks of base pay to laid-off employees plus two weeks of additional pay for every year of service, said the memo.

☆ Meta Quest Pro review: A very expensive VR experiment that doesn't have a target audience
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Sofia Pitt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +14 min

In this article META Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNTSofia Pitt using Meta Quest Pro Sofia PittI've been testing the new $1,500 Meta Quest Pro virtual reality headset since it launched on Oct. 25. In other words, the Meta Quest Pro is a very expensive experiment built to help figure out the use cases for the metaverse. Meta Quest Pro vs. Meta Quest 2: Design upgradesThe fit and design of the Meta Quest Pro are a huge upgrade compared with the Meta Quest 2 headset, which launched in 2020 under the name Oculus Quest 2. Meta Quest Pro. Painting VR on Meta Quest Pro Sofia PittThese experiences are not new or exclusive to the Pro.

☆ Analysis: Silicon Valley's greatest minds misread pandemic demand. Now their employees are paying for it.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

CNN Business —In the early months of the pandemic, Facebook only grew bigger and more central to our lives. On Wednesday, however, Zuckerberg reversed course and laid off more than 11,000 employees, marking the most significant cuts in the company’s history. In a memo to staff, Zuckerberg coughed up some of the hardest words in the English language. The Federal Reserve maintained near-zero interest rates at the time, giving tech companies easier access to capital. And private and public market valuations for tech companies only seemed to go higher.

☆ Meta shares rise after the Facebook parent lays off over 11,000 employees as it cuts costs
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( George Glover | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Meta shares rose 4% Wednesday after the company said it will lay off over 11,000 workers. The Facebook parent laid out a narrower range of costs for next year in a regulatory filing. In an 8-K filing published Wednesday, Meta cut its expense guidance for next year, from between $96 billion and $101 billion to between $94 billion and $100 billion. The moves come after Meta delivered downbeat guidance on growth and its digital ads business in the last quarter of 2022. The company said the 16-week severance packages it's offering laid-off employees wouldn't have any material impact on its costs.

☆ Meta announced it's laying off more than 11,000 staff. It also said it anticipated making further big losses on metaverse projects.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Meta has announced plans to lay off more than 11,000 employees, around 13% of the company's staff. The Reality Labs division, comprising Meta's metaverse and VR businesses, has lost $30.7 billion. Meta said it anticipated that Reality Lab's operating losses in 2023 would grow significantly. From the start of 2019 to September 30, 2022, Meta invested $36 billion into Reality Labs, an Insider analysis found. Insider's Kali Hays previously reported that employees in the Reality Labs division had been expecting layoffs.

☆ Not even Mark Zuckerberg's beloved metaverse projects are safe from Meta's sweeping layoffs
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Meta has announced sweeping layoffs across the whole company, including its metaverse division. Meta has pumped billions of dollars into its Reality Labs division, leading to massive losses. Reality Labs has reported massive losses that are crushing the company's profits. "We continue to anticipate that Reality Labs operating losses in 2023 will grow significantly year-over-year," Meta said in an SEC filing on Wednesday. "I'm currently in the middle of a thorough review of our infrastructure spending," Zuckerberg said.

Meta said Wednesday it plans to lay off more than 11,000 employees, or 13% of its workforce. Meta had 87,314 employees on September 30, 2022, according to its third-quarter earnings report. Such a move has been expected by employees for months, as Insider previously reported. FacebookZuckerberg said that affected US employees would get 16 weeks of severance plus an extra two weeks for every year of service. Affected employees would also still get their restricted stock unit vesting on November 15, he said.

☆ ‘Sad, hurt, uncertain, disappointed, and now jobless’: Meta employees react to being laid off
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Jyoti Mann | Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Meta CEO said he "got this wrong" and apologized to staff for over-investing in the company, calling the layoffs a "last resort." Much of Meta's recruiting team was impacted by the layoffs, as Zuckerberg said the company plans to freeze hiring. One former Meta recruiter, Brianna Sgro, took to LinkedIn to announce she was fired and wrote: "I'm sad, hurt, uncertain, disappointed, and now jobless." Many employees expressed their gratitude for being able to work at a company like Meta even as they faced broad layoffs. Below is a selection of LinkedIn posts and tweets from employees who were laid off from Meta:

☆ Read the memo Mark Zuckerberg sent to employees announcing Meta's plans to lay off more than 11,000 people
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Kate Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Mark Zuckerberg sent a memo to employees on Wednesday announcing mass layoffs at Meta. Meta employees have been expecting widespread layoffs for months as CEO Mark Zuckerberg's focus on creating the metaverse has proven extremely costly and slow, Insider previously reported. Read below the full note that Zuckerberg sent to Meta staff:Today I'm sharing some of the most difficult changes we've made in Meta's history. I've decided to reduce the size of our team by about 13% and let more than 11,000 of our talented employees go. We would not be where we are today without your hard work, and I'm grateful for your contributions.

☆ Meta laying off more than 11,000 employees
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

Meta is laying off 13% of its staff, or more than 11,000 employees, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a letter to employees Wednesday. "I've decided to reduce the size of our team by about 13% and let more than 11,000 of our talented employees go. Impacted employees will receive 16 weeks of pay plus two additional weeks for every year of service, Zuckerberg said. This hefty bet has cost Meta $9.4 billion so far in 2022, and the company anticipates that losses "will grow significantly year-over-year." I've decided to reduce the size of our team by about 13% and let more than 11,000 of our talented employees go.

☆ Cramer: Meta layoffs show Mark Zuckerberg 'got religion' on costs, but he must cut more
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Zev Fima | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

Jim had been calling on Meta and other tech companies for months to recognize the severity of the global macro headwinds and to reduce their costs. As a knock-on effect, this capex reduction from Meta may be causing some of the pressure we're seeing in semiconductor stocks, an area that caught a bid following Meta's initial expense guide. Reduction of annual capex by at least $5 billion; instead management guided for a $2 billion 2023 capex reduction at the high-end of its previous range, as mentioned this in more detail earlier. Management initially guided for total expenses in 2022 to be in the range of $91 billion to $97 billion. Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms Inc., speaks during the virtual Meta Connect event in New York, US, on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022.

Organizations: ~$

☆ Facebook has announced layoffs. Here's which teams are likely to be affected.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Jordan Parker Erb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

But in the tech world: There's one thing we can't seem to escape — layoffs. Elon Musk's Twitter is asking some laid-off workers if they want to come back. Meanwhile, some tech workers who have been laid off are taking to TikTok to post "get ready with me" videos wherein they film themselves — you guessed it — getting ready to be laid off. According to people familiar with the company, divisions including marketing, partnerships, HR, and engineering will be among the hardest hit. Elon Musk is looking to rehire Twitter workers.

☆ Here's a rundown of tech companies that have announced layoffs in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Sofia Pitt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Days after Twitter's new boss Elon Musk slashed half his company's workforce, Facebook parent Meta announced its most significant round of layoffs ever. Last month, Meta announced a second straight quarter of declining revenue and forecast another drop in the fourth quarter. The tech industry broadly has seen a string of layoffs in 2022 in the face of uncertain economic conditions. Lyft: around 700 jobs cutLyft announced last week that it cut 13% of its staff, or about 700 jobs. In a letter to employees, CEO Logan Green and President John Zimmer pointed to "a probable recession sometime in the next year" and rising rideshare insurance costs.

☆ Facebook layoffs will likely hit most departments, including Mark Zuckerberg's beloved metaverse division
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Kali Hays | Rob Price | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Facebook employees have been told for weeks to expect layoffs, as Insider previously reported. Even Reality Labs is expected to be impacted, despite it building out Zuckerberg's metaverse vision. 'Investors are demanding more action'One of the people said Reality Labs is "Mark's baby" and could be somewhat insulated from cuts, compared with other divisions. Facebook disclosed it has already this year lost more than $9 billion on Reality Labs, including nearly $4 billion in the third quarter alone. The division lost $10 billion over the whole of 2021, yet the company said spending on Reality Labs is only going to keep growing.

☆ Apple, Meta and Wells Fargo are in the news. Here's what we think of the developments
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Zev Fima | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Three of our Club stocks — Apple (AAPL), Meta Platforms (META) and Wells Fargo (WFC) — were in the news Monday. Here's what we think of the developments. Ultimately, the dynamic is in line with what we have seen in recent quarters, with Apple simply unable to supply enough devices to meet demand. Any payment of that size deal that would break the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's previous settlement record, which also happened to be with Wells Fargo. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade.

☆ Facebook parent company Meta is now the worst performer in the S&P 500 this year
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

A man poses in front of a sign of Meta, the new name for the company formerly known as Facebook, at its headquarters in Menlo Park, California, October 28, 2021. With Meta shares sinking to new lows, the social media giant is now the worst performer in the S&P 500 this year as of Thursday. In October, for instance, Meta reported its second straight quarterly sales drop and issued weak fourth-quarter guidance that was below analyst's expectations. But building the metaverse doesn't come cheap with Meta's Reality Labs business unit, which is overseeing its VR and AR initiatives, losing $9.4 billion thus far in 2022. "Beyond 2023, we expect to pace Reality Labs investments such that we can achieve our goal of growing overall company operating income in the long run," Meta said in October.

Search resuls for: "Reality Labs"

25 mentions found