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Meta Platforms Inc., which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp among others, is planning to begin large-scale layoffs this week, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal on Sunday.

The layoffs are expected to affect many thousands of employees and an announcement is planned to come as soon as Wednesday, according to the sources.

Meta reported more than 87,000 employees at the end of September. Company officials already told employees to cancel nonessential travel beginning this week, the people said.

A spokesman for Meta declined to comment, referring to Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg’s recent statement that the company would “focus our investments on a small number of high priority growth areas.”

The cuts expected to be announced this week follow several months of more targeted staffing reductions in which employees were managed out or saw their roles eliminated, noted The Wall Street Journal.

The layoffs at Meta follow similar moves at Twitter after its purchase by Elon Musk.

Musk, who officially took over Twitter at the end of October, fired at least four top executives at the company upon taking over.

On Friday, Twitter laid off half its workforce, with tweets by staff of the social media company saying the team responsible for human rights was among those affected.