Meta downsizes new European HQ in Dublin after 11,000 jobs cut
META is abandoning part of its new European headquarters in Dublin as the Facebook owner reels from the impact of 11,000 redundancies.
Meta had planned to expand its Dublin HQ by adding a fifth building to its existing campus in the Ballsbridge area of the Irish capital and signed a 25-year lease on a building in Fibonacci Square in 2018. However, that building will now be rented out, rather than occupied by Meta, the Irish Times reported.
The company is renting out all of the 375,000sq ft building after the first round of redundancies in its history earlier this year, which saw its headcount shrink by 13pc. The Whatsapp and Instagram owner is also closing its Grand Canal Dock offices as it shrinks its Dublin footprint amid falling profits and shrinking sales. Meta reportedly also plans to rent out a new London office in Regent’s Place at Triton Square.
Other London offices, including Facebook’s main UK base in King’s Cross, are not thought to be affected. A Meta spokesman said: “We remain firmly committed to the UK and Ireland. In early 2023, employees based in our Grand Canal office will move to our existing campus in Ballsbridge, Dublin, which will be the primary location of our International HQ.”
The social media company’s profits halved in the three months to September, with sales dropping to $27.7bn (£22.6m), a fall of 4pc on the previous year’s trading period. When he announced in November that 13pc of Meta staff would be made redundant as a result of the poor financial results, Mr Zuckerberg said: “I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here.”
Other tech companies are also cutting staff numbers and reducing their office footprints. Twitter, which has lost around 5,000 employees since Elon Musk bought it in October, has reportedly closed down all but one of its offices in San Francisco. Reports suggest Mr Musk might move the company’s HQ to Texas amid a brewing row with San Francisco’s city council over planning restrictions. Twitter’s London office has remained empty since November. The company did not respond to a request for comment.