Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has announced further job cuts which will affect an additional 10,000 employees. In a message to employees, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressed his regret at having to make such a difficult decision, adding that recruitment efforts will also be impacted by the layoffs this week. The company is planning to restructure and layoff employees in its tech groups in late April, followed by its business groups in late May. Zuckerberg noted that completing these changes could take some employees until the end of the year. In addition, Meta will be closing 5,000 open positions, according to Zuckerberg.
Meta had previously announced last year that it would be reducing its workforce by over 11,000 employees, accounting for approximately 13% of its total employees. The latest development comes after Meta reported declining profits and experienced its third consecutive quarter of decreased revenue last month.
In a statement made on Tuesday, Zuckerberg acknowledged that the upcoming job cuts will be difficult and will involve bidding farewell to many talented and dedicated colleagues who have contributed to the company’s success. However, he reassured that Meta will continue to support these individuals as it has done before and show them the appreciation they deserve.
Last month, the company attributed its declining profits to a downturn in online advertising and competition from other social media platforms. In addition to this, Meta has invested billions of dollars in its focus on the metaverse, an online virtual world that incorporates elements of augmented reality, virtual reality, avatars, and other forms of communication.
In recent months, numerous tech companies in the industry have laid off thousands of employees, including Google, which announced in January that it would be cutting approximately 12,000 jobs, and SiriusXM radio, which is cutting about 8% of its workforce. As part of this trend, the move has been made to also lay off employees at the company in question.
