Social media giant Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) joined a growing body of firms that are staging huge layoffs. This time, the layoffs are hitting one division that hadn’t seen so many previously, and the news was enough for investors to send shares up modestly in Friday afternoon’s trading.
Don't Miss our Black Friday Offers:
- Unlock your investing potential with TipRanks Premium - Now At 40% OFF!
- Make smarter investments with weekly expert stock picks from the Smart Investor Newsletter
The cuts this time were comparatively light and featured around 60 “technical program managers,” all located within Meta’s Instagram group. The 60 or so in question were given two months to find different jobs within the company or face being let go entirely. Meanwhile, the product teams within Instagram were also reorganized, though without losing jobs. One area the company is focusing on is a sector devoted entirely to content creators that target teenage users.
An Increasing Focus on Teenagers
The reorganization at Instagram is actually noteworthy for another reason: that unexpected focus on teenagers. This comes in the wake of news from just three days ago, direct from Meta’s blogs. One such entry, titled “New Protections to Give Teens More Age-Appropriate Experiences on Our Apps,” demonstrates the connection here well.
Meta announced that it was planning to “..hide more types of content for teens on Instagram and Facebook, in line with expert guidance.” Restrictive content control measures, search terms, and more are also part of the package. This might be a way to insulate Meta from the various lawsuits seen in some states around teenage social media use.
What is the Fair Value of META?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on META stock based on 37 Buys and two Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 172.91% rally in its share price over the past year, the average META price target of $397.31 per share implies 6.14% upside potential.
