A Meta morph

After Twitter, it’s now Meta that is reportedly planning to lay off staff in big numbers. The exercise could start as early as this week. Payroll reduction might have been prompted by the stagnation that Big Tech firms seem faced with as a long boom tapers off. Meta, in particular, has been in the spotlight for its poor performance in recent times, with its stock having lost more than 70% of its market value this year as growth in its social media business plateaus in key markets. But it is chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg’s ambitious pivot towards the Metaverse that seems to have investors most worried. With billions already pumped in for a future that still seems both improbable and far too distant, Meta’s fortunes would likely nosedive if this grand bet doesn’t work out. For Indian information technology firms, though, Big Tech’s hazy prospects amid a global slowdown in economic growth need not be all that bad. While recessions in major markets such as the US would compress profits for some quarters, the fact that they rely on custom work rather than high-risk, high-return ventures also keeps their basic business model safe. Meta is at the other end of the safety spectrum.