Meta lays off 11,000 workers

Facebook parent Meta laid off more than 11,000 employees on Wednesday in a companywide culling that was widely expected as Mark Zuckerberg’s firm struggles through a downturn.

The round of pink slips impacted roughly 13% of Meta’s overall workforce and constitute the most significant layoffs in the company’s history. Prior to the cuts, Meta had more than 87,000 employees globally.

Meta’s stock has plunged more than 70% this year as Zuckerberg pours billions into a troubled metaverse project despite sagging ad revenue and declines in its user base. Meta shares rose 5% in premarket trading after the layoffs were announced.

Zuckerberg apologized to employees regarding the layoffs in a companywide memo — and admitted that he had underestimated the extent to which Meta’s revenue would decline during the company’s recent slump.

The Meta boss also acknowledged the company has overspent on his watch, noting that he “made the decision to significantly increase our investments” while betting that the pandemic-era e-commerce boom would be a permanent trend.

“Unfortunately, this did not play out the way I expected,” Zuckerberg said. “Not only has online commerce returned to prior trends, but the macroeconomic downturn, increased competition, and ads signal loss have caused our revenue to be much lower than I’d expected. I got this wrong, and I take responsibility for that.”

The CEO said job cuts would impact employees across Meta’s “family of apps,” which includes Instagram and WhatsApp, as well as the Reality Labs division responsible for building the metaverse. Meta’s recruiting team will be “disproportionately affected” by the layoffs as the company pulls back on hiring.

Zuckerberg’s letter said the company has decided to “remove access to most Meta systems” for impacted workers — a move he said was necessary due to “the amount of access to sensitive information.”

Zuckerberg outlined additional cost-cutting moves, including cuts to “discretionary spending” and extending a companywide hiring freeze through the first quarter. Meta will require desk sharing for employees “who already spend most of their time outside the office,” he added.

“I view layoffs as a last resort, so we decided to rein in other sources of cost before letting teammates go. Overall, this will add up to a meaningful cultural shift in how we operate,” Zuckerberg added.