Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday revealed that the company would lay off about 10,000 employees months after it reduced its size team by cutting over 11,000 jobs.
“We expect to reduce our team size by around 10,000 people and to close around 5,000 additional open roles that we haven’t yet hired,” Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post shared with Meta employees.
This fresh round of layoffs that will affect thousands of employees is in keeping with Meta’s “Year of Efficiency” announced last month. These layoffs are part of a larger restructuring that would flatten the organisation’s hierarchy. The aim is to downsize and reorganise the company and slash recruiting rates.
“Our management theme for 2023 is the Year of Efficiency, and we’re focused on becoming a stronger and more nimble organisation,” Zuckerberg said last month, as the company posted its Q4 results.
Facebook-parent Meta became the first big tech firm to announce a second wave of layoffs. Its cost-cutting efforts have come in response to a significant drop in ad revenue—an area where the company clocks much of its revenue.
There was some improvement to Meta’s fourth-quarter advertising revenue compared to the last three quarters, although it remained under pressure from weak advertising demand.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg
In 2023, Meta estimates spending between $86 billion and $92 billion, down from the $89 billion to $95 billion that was originally anticipated.
The company’s headcount was 86,482 as of December 31, 2022, an increase of 20% year-over-year. This includes a substantial majority of the employees impacted by the layoff, as per the company.
Other big tech firms like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google have disclosed plans to cut 18,000, 10,000, and 12,000 positions from their respective workforces.
According to the layoff-tracking website layoffs.fyi, the tech industry has laid off almost 2,90,000 people since the beginning of 2022. About 40% of the layoffs have happened this year.
