Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
AP Photo/Mark Lennihan
Meta said Wednesday it plans to lay off more than 11,000 employees, or 13% of its workforce.
In recent months, it imposed a hiring freeze, tougher performance metrics and began a reorganization.
Meta is one of several big-name tech companies to embark on sweeping layoffs.
Meta said Wednesday that it plans to cut more than 11,000 employees, or 13% of its workforce.
Such a move has been expected by employees for months, as Insider previously reported. Some vice presidents and directors were told on Tuesday of specific plans for the layoffs, solidifying an internal expectation of a 10% company wide-cut amid a reorganization, Insider reported. The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that layoffs would take place Wednesday.
Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a blog post on Wednesday that the company was also cutting discretionary spending and extending its hiring freeze through the first quarter of 2023.
Meta had 87,314 employees on September 30, 2022, according to its third-quarter earnings report. That represented growth of 28% year-over-year, the report said.
The layoffs mark the first such action by Meta, which rebranded last year from its original company name Facebook. Zuckerberg has hinted repeatedly in recent months that a downsizing was coming. The first came in late April, when he told investors on a quarterly earnings call that more attrition would make Facebook “a better company.” A few days later, the company imposed a broad hiring freeze. Within two months, everyone in the company was being directed to work with “increased intensity” should they wish to keep their jobs amid a new focus on performance and related worker reviews.
Already, a reorganization at the company had been underway, resulting in certain divisons being slashed and managers being asked to try and find another job within the company or leave, changes employees termed “quiet layoffs,” as Insider reported. Workers were being told to give “200%” even as they were told to prepare for layoffs that could impact 10% to 20% of staff.
Meta has shed more than 70% of its market value since Zuckerberg announced in 2021 that Facebook was rebranding as Meta in a risky pivot towards the metaverse — a world where people connect in a digital universe using virtual- and augmented-reality devices. In October, Meta shares plummeted 24% the day after after it reported disappointing third-quarter earnings.
Still, Zuckerberg doubled down, admitting that losses from Reality Labs, the division responsible for everything metaverse, would continue to lose even more money over the next year. This year so far, Reality Labs has lost $9 billion, including nearly $4 billion in the third quarter alone. The division lost $10 billion over the whole of 2021. The company’s stock on Tuesday closed at its lowest price since 2015.
Meta is one of several companies to initiate large-scale layoffs in recent months. Earlier this year, Snap announced it was laying off 20% of its workers after aggressively hiring during the pandemic only to see the advertising market slow amid fears of a recession and the ongoing impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Elon Musk just last week cut Twitter in half, unceremoniously laying off so many people that some affected by job cuts are now being asked by colleagues still at the company to return.
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Contact Grace Kay at gkay@insider.com.