Meta, Facebook’s parent company, is laying off 11,000 of its employees.
The news came Wednesday via a blogpost sent to employees by the tech giant’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg. They will mark the largest cuts ever – and, per Zuckerberg, “some of the most difficult changes … in Meta’s history.”
“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 wrote Wednesday. “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. 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.”
It marks just the latest tech industry shakeups as companies respond to high inflation and heightened interest rates. As of an SEC filing from September, Meta has a staff of over 87,000.
As TheWrap previously reported, Meta’s Q3 earnings came in well below Wall Street’s expectations, as the Facebook parent realized a decline in advertising revenue for the second straight quarter and further losses tied to its virtual reality ambitions.
The company has poured billions of dollars to remake the company around chief executive Mark Zuckerberg’s image for the metaverse, powered by its Oculus brand’s virtual reality products. He has been pushing to diversify the company’s revenue streams beyond Facebook’s heavy dependence on advertising.
Meta announced in October at the time of Q3 earnings its plans to cut costs by restructuring some teams and launching a hiring freeze to combat expenses in the face of a growing ad slump.
“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,” Zuckerberg wrote Wednesday. He added: “There is no good way to do a layoff, but we hope to get all the relevant information to you as quickly as possible and then do whatever we can to support you through this.”
Emails are expected to go out on Wednesday for impacted parties. Zuckerberg said that layoffs are to be expected across Meta’s Family of Apps and Reality Labs, but that some teams will feel the effects more than others; recruiting, for example will face larger cuts proportionately since hiring will be stalled going into the new year.
“We’re also restructuring our business teams more substantially,” Zuckerberg said. “This is not a reflection of the great work these groups have done, but what we need going forward.”
“I believe we are deeply underestimated as a company today,” the CEO concluded. “Billions of people use our services to connect, and our communities keep growing. Our core business is among the most profitable ever built with huge potential ahead. And we’re leading in developing the technology to define the future of social connection and the next computing platform. We do historically important work. I’m confident that if we work efficiently, we’ll come out of this downturn stronger and more resilient than ever.”
Read Zuckerberg’s full letter to Meta employees here.
Joe Bel Bruno contributed to this report.
