Facebook’s parent company Meta has announced that it is laying off a whopping 11,000 of its staff members as the Big Tech company struggles financially.
On Wednesday morning, Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp, revealed that it is culling 13 percent of its workforce in a major shakeup.
The move comes as the company tried to drastically cut costs amid falling growth and revenue and plummeting stock value.
Meta is informing its employees about their jobs today via email.
Workers will likely already be aware of their impending doom, however, as culled staff are locked out of Meta’s system from today over concerns about access to sensitive information.
Employees axed from the company are expected to get at least six weeks’ salary as compensation, plus a further two weeks’ wages for every year served.
A number of office sites were to be shut globally under the restructuring – with desk share arrangements being put in place instead.
Staff perks were also being reduced.
Facebook’s founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg broke the news to staff in an internal email.
He told staff that he wanted “to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here.”
Zuckerberg admitted that his own plans for growth had been too optimistic, saying “I was wrong.”
He outlined how Meta had bet on continued high demand for e-commerce through its investments after the worst of the pandemic.
Zuckerberg has faced calls from top shareholders to slash costs following two consecutive quarters of falling revenue.
Some of the losses have been due to declining ad sales across its platforms.
Facebook and Instagram have been struggling to compete as users adopt newer rival platforms such as the Chinese Communist Party’s TikTok app.
Facebook’s censorship practices have also caused users to flock to pro-free speech alternatives such as President Donald Trump’s Truth Social and Elon Musk’s Twitter.
But investors are also concerned about Meta’s big spending on its virtual and augmented reality division called Reality Labs.
With shares down a staggering 71% in the year to date, they have also called Zuckerberg’s metaverse vision into question.
It remains unclear whether the prospects for applications in the space are overblown.
He signaled a continued investment commitment to the division in his note to staff.
Of the job cuts, Zuckerberg said: “While we’re making reductions in every organization across both Family of Apps and Reality Labs, some teams will be affected more than others.
“Recruiting will be disproportionately affected since we’re planning to hire fewer people next year.
“We’re also restructuring our business teams more substantially.”
“The teammates who will be leaving us are talented and passionate, and have made an important impact on our company and community,” he added.
“Each of you have helped make Meta a success, and I’m grateful for it.
“I’m sure you’ll go on to do great work at other places.”
The job cuts are the latest among major tech players.
Under Elon Musk’s ownership, Twitter is understood to have slashed its workforce by almost half last week, as Slay News reported.
Meanwhile, Microsoft was reported to have shed 1,000 staff in October.
