Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg announces plans to cut 11,000 jobs from tech giant
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has confirmed it plans to cut more than 11,000 jobs globally as part of a major restructuring of the tech giant.
The cuts will reduce the size of the company’s workforce by about 13%.
Meta founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said the cuts were "some of the most difficult changes we’ve made in Meta’s history".
"We are also taking a number of additional steps to become a leaner and more efficient company by cutting discretionary spending and extending our hiring freeze through Q1,” he said in a statement.
"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."
The company has said that all of its staff will soon receive an email letting them know "what this layoff means for you".
Mr Zuckerberg added the "macroeconmic downturn, increased competition and ads signal loss" had caused a drop in Meta’s revenue which has led to substantial staff cuts.
Meta’s biggest platforms - Facebook and Instagram - have come under increased pressure from sites such as TikTok while the company has also spent billions developing the metaverse - a long-term project of Mr Zuckerberg’s.
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He said departing US staff would get 16 weeks of base pay plus two additional weeks for every year of service, saying support would be "similar" around the world, but the company would "follow up soon with separate processes that take into account local employment laws".
He also confirmed access to internal staff systems would be removed for people leaving "given the amount of access to sensitive information", but said email addresses would be active "throughout the day" so that "everyone can say farewell".
In Dublin, Republic of Ireland, where Meta's European HQ is based, it's been announced that the layoffs will extend only to full-time members of staff and not affect contract workers employed by third-parties.
It is understood redundancies there will be in line with the global headcount reduction of 13%, meaning almost 400 employees could be set to lose their jobs.
At present, it's not known how many jobs will be lost from within the UK.
The jobs cuts at Meta follow those announced last week by Twitter, which have seen around 3,250 employees made redundant.
Elon Musk, the social media platform's new owner, defended the layoffs, saying he had "no choice" as the firm is losing more than $4m (£3.5m) a day.
He said he is seeking to significantly reduce costs after completing his $44 billion (£39 billion) takeover of Twitter.