The World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos felt different this year, and not just because Meta and Salesforce took over storefronts on the main promenade. AI dominated the conversation in a way that overshadowed traditional topics like climate change and global poverty, and the CEOs weren’t holding back. There was public criticism of trade policy, warnings about AI […]

New layoffs at Meta will impact 331 workers in the Seattle area and Washington state, according to a filing from the state Employment Security Department.

The company is cutting employees at four facilities located in Seattle and on the Eastside, as well as approximately 97 employees who work remotely in Washington. The layoffs are part of broader reductions in the company’s Reality Labs division, first announced last week, that impacted 1,500 jobs companywide.

The heaviest hit facility is the Reality Labs office in Redmond, followed by the Spring District office in Bellevue, according to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) filing.

Meta’s Horizon OS software engineering team, working out of a Meta office on Dexter Avenue North in Seattle, was the hardest hit single group with 20 jobs cut. Horizon OS is the extended reality operating system developed to power Meta Quest virtual reality and mixed reality headsets.

Layoffs are expected to take effect on March 20.

With about 15,000 employees, Reality Labs currently represents about 19% of Meta’s total global workforce of roughly 78,000.

The company employs thousands of people across multiple offices in the Seattle region, one of its largest engineering hubs outside Menlo Park, Calif. Last October, the Facebook parent laid off more than 100 employees in Washington state as part of a broader round of cuts within its artificial intelligence division.

The Reality Labs cuts come at a time when the company is reportedly shifting priorities away from the metaverse to build next-generation artificial intelligence.

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Meta is planning to lay off around 10% of the employees in its Reality Labs division, The New York Times reported Monday.

The division — which employs roughly 15,000 people — has a strong presence in the Seattle area and is responsible for the company’s “metaverse” technologies that work in conjunction with augmented and virtual reality, including for products such as VR headsets and a VR-based social network.

Update: The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that 1,500 employees were let go.

The Times cited people with knowledge of the layoff discussions, which the newspaper said come at a time when the company is shifting priorities to build next-generation artificial intelligence.

A Meta spokesperson declined to comment when reached by GeekWire.

Business Insider reported that Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth, the head of Reality Labs, called an all-hands meeting for Wednesday. Sources told BI that employees were strongly encouraged to attend in person.

Reality Labs currently represents about 19% of Meta’s total global workforce of roughly 78,000.

Meta employs thousands of people across multiple offices in the Seattle region, one of its largest engineering hubs outside Menlo Park, Calif. Last October, the company laid off more than 100 employees in Washington state as part of a broader round of cuts within its artificial intelligence division.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg visited a Reality Labs facility in Redmond in 2022 to demonstrate how wearables such as wristbands can control devices with small muscle movements.

The Washington State Department of Labor & Industries cited Meta in November 2022 for alleged safety violations in a cleanroom at Meta’s “Matrix” facility in Redmond. The specially designed space was engineered to filter pollutants such as dust, airborne microbes, and aerosol particles. In January 2024 the state ordered the room shut down.