Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has confirmed that the company is laying off employees starting Wednesday morning. Meta had earlier denied commenting on the report by the Wall Street Journal, which said the company is preparing to start mass layoffs that will affect thousands of workers.
As Meta follows Twitter’s footsteps in reducing the workforce, Zuckerberg acknowledged that he was to be blamed for Meta’s mistakes and appeared visibly sad. According to WSJ’s report, the people involved in the meeting said that Mark’s over-optimistic attitude towards the company led to overstaffing.
Apple’s privacy changes, TikTok rivalry, the slowing global economy, worries about increasing expenditures on the metaverse, and the looming prospect of legislation are all issues that Meta is currently battling.
WSJ reports that Meta’s layoffs could be the largest in the tech industry, and thousands of employees are expected to lose their jobs.
“In 2023, we’re going to focus our investments on a small number of high priority growth areas. So that means some teams will grow meaningfully, but most other teams will stay flat or shrink over the next year. In aggregate, we expect to end 2023 as either roughly the same size, or even a slightly smaller organization than we are today” Zuckerberg said on the last earnings call in late October.
As per WSJ, employees who are set to be laid off will receive four months of salary. Several company heads and directors have started to inform their juniors and aides of restructuring and the cuts that will follow suit.
Meta’s stock, too, has fallen over 70% this year, with high spending and investment on the metaverse, with fruits at least a decade away.
Meanwhile, other tech companies, including Twitter, have already begun mass-scale layoffs, with more than half the workforce on its way out. Other companies like Microsoft and Snap have also cut jobs and slowed hiring.
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