Magic Leap lays off staff in bid to 'adapt to new market realities'

Magic Leap has made an unspecified number of layoffs “at every level” of the company, cuts CEO Rony Abovitz says are part of Magic Leap’s need to adapt to new market realities and its increased focus on its enterprise dealings during COVID-19.

While the official post only notes that the reduction touches "every level of our company, from my direct reports to our factory employees," a report from Bloomberg suggests that layoff wave leaves 1,000 people, nearly half the company, suddenly jobless.

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This would reportedly make for the second significant wave of layoffs to hit Magic Leap in the last six months, following whispers from December that Magic Leap laid off "dozens" after the initial launch of the Magic Leap One AR headset apparently undersold expectations.

Magic Leap angles this latest wave as a necessary reduction to weather COVID-19 driven changes to the current economic environment, and keep the company afloat while it decreasing investments “in areas where the market has been slower to develop” while it instead shifts focus to readying its tech for wider use in the enterprise market.