Layoffs have hit Meta as Mark Zuckerberg has announced the company will lay off 11,000 employees, which equals 13% of its workforce. According to ABC, the company will also take “a number of additional steps to become a leaner and more efficient company.”
“We are also taking a number of additional steps to become a leaner and more efficient company by cutting discretionary spending and extending our hiring freeze through Q1,” Zuckerberg said in a statement. “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.”
The company is now said to shift resources to a “smaller number of high priority growth areas,” including the development of the Metaverse, Meta’s AI discovery engine, and advertisements.
“We’ve cut costs across our business, including scaling back budgets, reducing perks, and shrinking our real estate footprint,” Zuckerberg added. “We’re restructuring teams to increase our efficiency. But these measures alone won’t bring our expenses in line with our revenue growth, so I’ve also made the hard decision to let people go.”
Zuckerberg attributed the decision to cut staff was caused by the move of the world online and the surge of e-commerce during COVID-19. He admits to believing the trend would continue in post-pandemic life, but it “did not play out the way I expected” with commerce returning to prior trends.
“This is a sad moment, and there’s no way around that. To those who are leaving, I want to thank you again for everything you’ve put into this place. We would not be where we are today without your hard work, and I’m grateful for your contributions.”
