Meta Twists the Knife in the Backs of Laid-Off Employees ⇥ cnbc.com

Jordan Novet, CNBC:

Facebook parent Meta Platforms said in its quarterly earnings statement on Wednesday that it has increased its share repurchase authorization by $40 billion.

In 2022 the social network operator bought back about $28 billion in stock, according to the statement.

[…]

Meta’s fourth-quarter results surpassed analysts’ revenue estimates, which helped send shares up more than 17% after hours.

Before increasing its buyback fund, it had nearly $11 billion remaining.

I am going to take a brave punt that shareholders were less jazzed about revenue modestly exceeding expectations and — and this is just a hunch — their excitement may actually come from this massive share buyback scheme, which comes just a few months after announcing the layoffs of thousands of workers. Paying for those severace packages is part of the $4.2 billion of “restructuring” costs from 2022, and Meta is reportedly not finished with dismissing staff. It sure looks cruel to spend another $40 billion to prop up the share price shortly after upending the lives of eleven thousand people — some of whom are probably in the United States on a work visa — but maybe I am too soft for capital-B Business.