Facebook parent Meta is laying off 13% of its workforce as it grapples with faltering revenue and the wider tech industry’s woes
Facebook parent Meta is laying off 13% of its workforce as it grapples with faltering revenue and the wider tech industry’s woes
Meta shared in a blog post on Wednesday that it will lay off about 11,000 of its employees, 13% of its workforce. The company also shared that it will extend the hiring freeze through Q1.
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In a direct message to employees, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the company’s family of apps and Reality Labs will be cutting staff.
the step that comes a week later Widespread layoffs on Twitter under its new owner, Billionaire Elon Musk,
Like other social media companies, Meta too enjoyed financial growth during the pandemic lockdown era as more people stayed home and scrolled on their phones and computers. But as soon as the lockdown ended and people started moving out again, revenue growth faltered.
In a post titled “Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Message to Employees,” the company shared that the decision to downsize comes as a result of a macroeconomic slowdown, increased competition, and advertising signal loss.
The company also shared that it will pay 16 weeks of basic pay and two additional weeks of pay for each year of service.
META will also provide immigration assistance, health insurance for six months and career services to employees.
The cuts come at a time when Zuckerberg has come on the rise investor pressure To cut expenses. The company shared in the post that Meta will focus on growth areas such as AI discovery engine, ads and business platforms.
An economic downturn and a grim outlook for online advertising – Meta’s biggest revenue source by far – have contributed to Meta’s woes. This summer, Meta reported its first quarterly revenue decline in history, followed by another major drop in the fall.
Last week, Twitter laid off nearly half of its 7,500 employees, part of a chaotic overhaul when Musk took over. He tweeted that there was no option but to cut jobs, “when the company is losing more than $4M/day,” though did not give details about the loss.
Read also | Meta shareholder wants Facebook parent to cut jobs, spending
Meta has worried investors by making more than $10 billion a year.metaverse“Because it shifts its focus away from social media. CEO Mark Zuckerberg predicts that the metaverse, an immersive digital universe, will eventually replace smartphones as the primary way people use technology.
Meta and its advertisers are facing a potential slowdown. There’s also the challenge of Apple’s privacy tools, which make it more difficult for social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Snap to track people without their consent and target ads to them.
With inputs from AP