In the first mass layoff in the company’s history, Facebook parent company, Meta declared it will fire roughly 13% of its present workers.
The first big layoff in the history of Facebook’s parent company, Meta, revealed that roughly 13% of its present personnel had been eliminated. CEO of Meta Mark Zuckerberg wrote a message to his staff informing them of the layoffs and reiterating that the hiring moratorium, which was put in place earlier this year, will continue through the first fiscal quarter of 2019.
A statement released through Meta’s newsroom claims that 11,000 positions were eliminated as a result of the layoffs. On Nov. 6, a story from inside sources in the Wall Street Journal first reported the early rumors of layoffs. Due to growing costs and a recent decline in the company’s share price, Zuckerberg claims full responsibility for the layoffs:
“I got this wrong, and I take responsibility for that.”
The CEO added that lower-than-expected revenue was the result of his overinvestment in a few sectors, “the macroeconomic slump, increasing competition, and advertisements signal loss,” and other factors. This information follows shocking allegations that Meta made public on October 26 that showed billions of dollars had been lost in its metaverse development division.
The metaverse’s R&D division, Reality Labs, reported a $3.67 billion deficit for the third quarter. The company only generated $285 million in revenue during the same quarter, which is its lowest level ever for the period under consideration. Shareholders in the corporation were shocked by the revelation and worried about Meta’s prospects in the metaverse.
Not all major technology companies are seeing mass layoffs, including Meta. Twitter experienced a wave of layoffs after Elon Musk purchased the social media business for more than $44 billion. According to reports, the layoffs reportedly started on Nov. 4, and Musk is rumored to be letting go of over 50% of the company’s 7,500 employees. Employees responded by filing a class-action lawsuit against Musk, alleging that he disregarded a rule prohibiting large-scale layoffs without at least 60 days’ notice.
