Mumbai: CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg in a blog announced that Meta, the parent company of Facebook will be firing around 11,000 employees. This comes right after he informed hundreds of business leaders on Tuesday that layoffs will take place on Wednesday morning.
In a statement, Zuckerberg said the company is also taking a number of additional steps to become a leaner and more efficient company by cutting discretionary spending and extending its hiring freeze through Q1.
"Today I'm sharing some of the most difficult changes we've made in Meta's history. I've decided to reduce the size of our team by about 13% and let more than 11,000 of our talented employees go," Zuckerberg said in a blog post on Wednesday.
"I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here. I know this is tough for everyone, and I'm especially sorry to those impacted," he added.
Email to let them know what this layoff means
The Meta CEO said that everyone will get an email soon letting them know what this layoff means for them. "After that, every affected employee will have the opportunity to speak with someone to get their questions answered and join information sessions," he said.
The lay off is a part of a first major budget cut since Facebook's founding in 2004. There is a sharp slowdown in digital advertising revenue and to add to that the economy is wobbling on the brink of recession. Mark Zuckerberg's heavy investment in a speculative virtual-reality push called the metaverse is also responsible for the major budget cut.
Laid off employees will receive at least four months of salary
Employees who are to be laid off will receive at least four months of salary, the The Wall Street Journal reported. According to the report, Zuckerberg mentioned recruiting and business teams as among those facing layoffs.
As per WSJ report, Zuckerberg during the meeting described broad cuts and specifically mentioned the recruiting and business teams as among those facing layoffs.
Following the meeting, company directors in numerous sections of the organization began notifying their subordinates of cuts and reorganizations.
Meta reported more than 87,000 employees
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, reported more than 87,000 employees at the end of September. The company aggressively hired through the COVID-19 pandemic.
The planned layoffs would be the first broad head-count reductions in the company's 18-year history.
Meanwhile, Meta's stock has fallen more than 70 percent this year. The company has highlighted deteriorating macroeconomic trends, but investors have also been spooked by its spending and threats to the company's core social-media business.
Growth has stalled due to TikTok, and Apple Inc competition
Growth for that business in many markets has stalled amid stiff competition from TikTok, and Apple Inc requirement that users opt into the tracking of their devices has curtailed the ability of social media platforms to target ads, reported WSJ.
After hiring aggressively through the pandemic, the tech industry is facing its biggest retrenchment in years. Twitter Inc. is laying off thousands of employees under new owner Elon Musk, as he tries to restructure the company to match his vision while facing widespread concern from advertisers about its new direction.
With inputs from WSJ and ANI
