Meta Lays Off Employees at Its Reality Labs Division

Facebook’s parent company, Meta, has confirmed layoffs within its Reality Labs division, the team responsible for developing its virtual reality (VR) headsets. Within Reality Labs, teams from Oculus Studios, as well as some employees involved in Meta’s hardware efforts, have been affected. Oculus is Meta’s in-house game development studio for its Quest headsets.

The job cuts were first reported by CNBC and The Verge. Later a Bloomberg report claimed that more than 100 people have been affected in these sackings.

A Meta spokesperson has said that the layoffs are intended to “help us work more efficiently on what the future of fitness could be.” Although they did not confirm the number of affect staff.

 “These changes are meant to help Studios work more efficiently on future mixed reality experiences for our growing audience, while still delivering great content for people today. We remain committed to investing in mixed reality experiences, including fitness and games, and our drive to deliver the best experiences possible for the Quest and Supernatural communities remains unchanged,” a Meta spokesperson told The Verge.

Meta’s decision to cut jobs at Reality Labs follows its move in February to lay off 5% of its global workforce, targeting employees deemed low performers.

In the fourth quarter, Reality Labs reported an operating loss of $4.97 billion on $1.1 billion in revenue, according to Meta’s January filing.

The social media giant is scheduled to report its earnings on April 30.

According to IG Bank, rising economic and policy uncertainty driven by US tariffs has placed renewed pressure on company valuations, leading to a sharp pullback in the Magnificent Seven stocks over the past two months.

Meta has been among the hardest hit, with its share price falling more than 35% from its February 2025 peak. For the first quarter of 2025, Meta is expected to report revenue of $41.4 billion, reflecting a 13.6% year-on-year increase—down from 20.6% growth in the previous quarter, the Swiss brokerage said.

They project Meta's earnings per share to rise 12.2% to $5.29, the slowest pace of growth since Q1 2023, while the company’s operating margin is forecast to decline to 32.5%, compared to 43.1% in Q4 2024. Advertising, which contributes 96% of Meta’s total revenue, is expected to see slower growth of 13.3% year-on-year in Q1, down from 20.9% in the previous quarter.