Meta’s Australia is trimming the size of its ad sales team as part of a global restructure.
Earlier this week, group industry director Naomi Shepherd, who is Meta’s client facing lead in Australia and New Zealand revealed she was leaving the business after 14 years.
B&T understands that around a dozen sales executives have been told that their roles are redundant and the business is going through the mandatory consultation phase.
”As a business we regularly review our organisational structure to best position ourselves for current and future opportunities. We are committed to managing this transition with the utmost compassion, respect, and deep gratitude for everything our Australian team members have contributed,” Meta Australia and New Zealand managing director Will Easton told B&T.
“Our partners and clients can expect the same high level of service and support throughout this transition.”
The cuts to Meta’s Australian team are not in isolation. On Wednesday, Meta confirmed it had laid off around 700 staff globally in sales, recruitment and its Reality Labs unit. Meta’s global workforce numbered around 79,000 staff at the start of the year.
Part of the reason Meta is trimming staff is the impact that AI is having on operations and roles in the technology sector.
Earlier this month, Atlassian laid off 1,600 staff — around 10 per cent of its global workforce — as artificial intelligence reshapes its labour needs.
Meta’s restructure comes at a challenging time for the company.
Earlier this week, the company revealed a new stock program for six top executives that could increase compensation for some of them by as much as $921 million each over the next five years. Meta told the New York Times the move was a way to retain talent in the AI era and push it toward ambitious growth.
Yesterday, a Los Angeles court found that YouTube and Meta deliberately designed addictive products that are addictive and had caused harm to a young user, while a separate case in New Mexico ordered Meta to pay $375 million in civil penalties after the company was found to mislead users about the safety of its platforms to children.
