Meta CTO to hold high-stakes meeting, urging employees to attend: Report

Meta's chief technology officer, Andrew Bosworth, is gearing up to conduct what he has labeled the year's most crucial meeting, urging employees to attend in person despite the company's typical remote work setup. According to Business Insider, management has asked staff to prioritize this meeting, scheduled for January 14, indicating its importance. Sources within the company revealed that Bosworth emphasized the necessity of physical attendance, a significant departure from the norm for the division he leads. The meeting will gather teams from Reality Labs, Meta's branch focused on wearables and both virtual and augmented reality products. Such large in-person gatherings are rare for Reality Labs, making this directive even more striking. Employees have reported that management stressed the need to deprioritize other tasks to ensure full attendance. This comes at a time when Reality Labs faces heightened scrutiny regarding its financial health, having incurred losses exceeding $70 billion since 2020, despite some successes like the Ray-Ban smart glasses. The meeting is particularly timely as the unit has undergone multiple rounds of layoffs in the past year and has been rumored to be planning additional budget cuts, raising concerns about the future of Meta's metaverse and hardware initiatives. Bosworth, often referred to as "Boz" internally, holds a computer science degree from Harvard University. He has an extensive background, having previously worked at Microsoft and Facebook before ascending the ranks at Meta. He was instrumental in leading the Ads and Business Platform product group, during which annual revenue surged from $4 billion to $40 billion within five years. The upcoming meeting is expected to shed light on the strategic direction of Reality Labs amid these challenges.