Facebook's parent company has announced it will let go of approximately 13% of its current workforce in the first mass layoff in the company's history.
has announced the cut of about 13% of its current workforce in the first mass layoff in the company's history
In a letter to his employees, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the layoffs and also reiterated that the hiring freeze, which began earlier this year, will extend into the first fiscal quarter of next year.
According to the statement published through the Meta press room, the layoffs put an end to 11,000 jobs. Initial rumors of layoffs surfaced the weekend of November 6 via a Wall Street Journal report from insider sources.
Zuckerberg says that he bears full responsibility for the layoffs, which were caused by rising costs and the recent plunge in his share price:
I was wrong and I take responsibility for that
The CEO also said his overinvestment in certain areas, coupled with "the macroeconomic downturn, increased competition and loss of ad signal," led to lower-than-expected revenue.
reports released by Meta on October 26, which revealed multi-million dollar losses in its development arm of the metaverse. Reality Labs, the R&D arm of the metaverse, posted a $3.67 billion loss in the third quarter.
During the same quarter, the company only had revenue of $285 million, the lowest on record for that period. The news has surprised the company's shareholders and raised concerns about the prospects for Meta's metaverse.
Meta isn't the only big tech company suffering massive layoffs.
After Elon Musk acquired Twitter for more than $44 billion, the social media company suffered a series of layoffs. The layoffs allegedly began on November 4, with speculation that Musk will lay off almost 50% of the company's 7,500-person workforce.
In response, employees have launched a class-action lawsuit against Musk, which says he ignored a law that restricts mass layoffs by large companies without at least 60 days' notice.
