Facebook's parent company Meta announced today that it will lay off more than 11,000 employees, in order to cut costs following disappointing earnings numbers and a decline in revenue. These widespread job cuts coincide with the decisions of other giants such as Twitter and Microsoft
The CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg issued a statement that, "Today I want to share some of the most difficult changes we are about to make in the history of Meta. I have decided to reduce the size of our team by approximately 13% by laying off more than 11,000 talented employees”.
Continued Zuckerberg,"We are also taking some additional steps to make the company more streamlined and efficient by reducing expenses and extending our hiring freeze until the first quarter".
Taking responsibility for the decision, Mark Zuckerberg has apologized to Meta employees."I want to take responsibility for this decision. I know this is difficult for everyone, and I sincerely apologize to those affected," he said.
As compensation, the dismissed workers will receive 16 weeks of basic pay plus two additional weeks for each year of service. Employees will also get six months of health care costs, the company said. The cuts, part of the first major budget cuts since Facebook's founding in 2004, reflect a sharp slowdown in digital advertising revenue, an economy teetering on the brink of recession and Mark Zuckerberg's big investment in virtual reality – the metaverse.
Mark Zuckerberg stressed the need to be more efficient in capital management and said the company would shift resources to more core areas such as advertising, its AI discovery engine and business platform, as well as its metaverse project.
Meta's job cuts follow last week's job cuts from Twitter, which saw the company cut about 50% of its workforce following its sale to Elon Musk. Musk is of the view that the move is necessary to stem losses in the social network.
