Meta layoffs hits India as top executives asked to resign

Several employees in India, including senior executives, were affected by Meta's (formerly Facebook) third round of job cuts, which impacted a total of 6,000 employees worldwide.Dozens of employees working in teams such as marketing, site security, enterprise engineering, program management, content strategy and corporate communications took to LinkedIn to announce that they were laid off.

The social media giant also cut employees from its units focused on privacy and integrity, according to the LinkedIn posts.Meta earlier this year became the first Big Tech company to announce a second round of mass layoffs, after showing more than 11,000 employees the door in the fall. The cuts brought the company's headcount down to where it stood as of about mid-2021, following a hiring spree that doubled its workforce since 2020.The company's shares closed marginally up in a broadly weaker market. They have more than doubled in value this year and are among the top performers in the S&P 500 index, thanks to the cost-cutting drive and Meta's focus on artificial intelligence. 

Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg in March said the bulk of the layoffs in the company's second round would take place in three "moments" over several months, largely finishing in May. Some smaller rounds could continue after that, he said.Overall the cuts have hit non-engineering roles most heavily, reinforcing the primacy of those who write the code at Meta. Zuckerberg has pledged to restructure business teams "substantially" and return to a "more optimal ratio of engineers to other roles."