Meta Platforms Inc will start firing employees on Wednesday. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg told hundreds of executives that he was accountable for the company’s downturn, the Wall Street Journal reported.

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Zuckerberg appeared downcast in Tuesday's meeting and took responsibility for the company's missteps, and said that his “over-optimism” about growth led to overstaffing, people familiar with the matter told WSJ.

Reports have earlier suggested that Facebook’s parent company Meta was planning “large-scale layoffs”, which could be the largest reduction to date at a major technology firm in a year that has seen a tech-industry retrenchment.

The WSJ earlier reported that Meta, which has more than 87,000 employees, could likely lay off "many thousands of employees."

In the latest meeting, Zuckerberg is said to have confirmed “broad cuts” and specifically mentioned the recruiting and business teams as among those facing layoffs.

A general internal announcement of the layoff plan is expected later on Wednesday.

The firm’s head of human resources, Lori Goler, said employees who lose their jobs would be provided at least four months of salary as a severance.

The impending mass layoff is the first broad head-count reduction to occur in the company’s 18-year history.

Last week, Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of Twitter and its former CEO, apologised to the company's personnel a day after Elon Musk, the company's new owner, let go about half of the firm's 7,500 employees.

Dorsey, who resigned as CEO last year after co-founding the company in 2006, said, "I recognise people are furious with me. I built the company too quickly, which is my fault for why everyone is in this predicament. I'm sorry about that."

Meanwhile, a global economic downturn, rising interest rates, and regulatory struggles have moved tech companies, including Alphabet and Amazon, to slow or stop hiring.

Meta layoffs come at a time when the company has pointed to deteriorating macroeconomic trends while the firm’s investors have also been concerned by its spending and threats to the core social-media business.

Growth for that business in many markets has stalled amid stiff competition from TikTok, and Apple making it mandatory for its users to opt to track their devices has curtailed the ability of social media platforms to target.

The tech industry across the world, especially startups, has been facing a funding winter while recession fears loom, following which many have taken to firing employees to cut costs.

First Published:Nov 9, 2022 8:25 AM IST