Meta's Mass Layoffs To Begin Today, CEO Mark Zuckerberg Confirms & Takes Responsibility For It

Facebook parent Meta Platforms is planning to begin widespread job cuts on Wednesday, according to people familiar with the matter, as per Bloomberg report. This step is a part of Meta¡¯s plan to reduce costs after posting disappointing earnings and a drop in revenue in Q3 (June-Sept quarter), along with a worrisome forecast for this quarter.

Employees who are affected will be told starting Wednesday, i.e. today, and Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg spoke to employees yesterday to prepare them for the cuts, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. On the executive call, Meta CEO Zuckerberg said he was accountable for the company's "missteps," according to the Wall Street Journal report.

shutterstock

The layoffs are expected to affect about 10% of the company's workforce, which employed more than 87,000 as of September 30th 2022, according to Insider. The layoffs, part of the first major budget cut since the founding of Facebook in 2004, reflect a sharp slowdown in digital advertising revenue, an economy wobbling on the brink of recession and Zuckerberg's heavy investment in a speculative virtual-reality push called the metaverse, Bloomberg report mentioned.

Meta's mass layoffs follow similar actions taken by Elon Musk at Twitter last week, which saw that company cut roughly 50% (about 3700 employees) of its workforce. Amidst the chaotic as well as criticised layoffs at Twitter, the company later asked some of the fired employees to ¡®please come back¡¯.

Besides Twitter and Meta, many giant organisations have been conducting layoffs in recent months, including Microsoft, Ford, Intel, Goldman Sachs, Snap Inc, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse etc. In September, Alphabet & Google CEO Sundar Pichai too had hinted about possible layoffs.

Also Read: List Of Global Giants Laying Off Employees

Zuckerberg's Layoff Warning In September

inc/getty

Mark Zuckerberg had warned employees in September that Meta intended to slash expenses and restructure teams. The California-based company, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, implemented a hiring freeze, and the CEO said that Meta expected headcount to be smaller in 2023 than it is this year.

"This is obviously a different mode than we're used to operating in," Zuckerberg had said in a Q&A session with employees in September. "For the first 18 years of the company, we basically grew quickly basically every year, and then more recently our revenue has been flat to slightly down for the first time. So we have to adjust."

Also Read: Explained: Is Twitter's Mass Layoff Violating U.S. Law?

For the latest and more interesting financial news, keep reading Indiatimes Worth. Click here