Meta confirms plans to cut 11,000 staff

Meta Platforms said it will lay off more than 11,000 workers, or 13% of staff, embarking on the first mass headcount reduction in the company’s 18-year history.

“I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here. I know this is tough for everyone, and I’m especially sorry to those impacted,” said Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg also said the company is also cutting discretionary spending and extending its hiring freeze through Q1.

The confirmation comes days after the Wall Street Journal reported Meta’s plans to announce large-scale layoffs this week that are expected to affect thousands of employees. In June, Meta cut its hiring plans by 30% and Mark Zuckerberg warned staff to brace for a deep economic downturn.

Zuckerberg said that his assumption that the rise in online activity seen during the pandemic would continue was incorrect. “I got this wrong and I take responsibility for that.”

“In this new environment, we need to become more capital efficient. We’ve shifted more of our resources onto a smaller number of high priority growth areas — like our AI discovery engine, our ads and business platforms, and our long-term vision for the metaverse. We’ve cut costs across our business, including scaling back budgets, reducing perks, and shrinking our real estate footprint. We’re restructuring teams to increase our efficiency. But these measures alone won’t bring our expenses in line with our revenue growth, so I’ve also made the hard decision to let people go,” Zuckerberg said. 

For the third quarter that ended on September 30, Meta reported revenue of $27.71 billion, a 4% year-over-year decrease. However, the company was already expecting the revenue drop for the quarter. It had warned that Q3 revenue may be significantly worse following the release of its Q2 results, which included the first-ever revenue decline. Revenue for the fourth quarter is now anticipated to range between $30 billion and $32.50 billion.