Meta Platforms Inc said on Wednesday it will let go of more than 11,000 employees, in one of the biggest tech layoffs this year as the Facebook parent battles soaring costs and a weak advertising market.

Share Market Live

NSE

"I’ve decided to reduce the size of our team by about 13 percent and let more than 11,000 of our talented employees go. 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," CEO Mark Zuckerberg told Meta employees.

He took accountability for the decisions and for how the firm got to this point.

Zuckerberg said at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world rapidly moved online and the surge of e-commerce led to outsized revenue growth, following which many people predicted, including him thought this would be a permanent acceleration that would continue even after the pandemic ended.

"I did too, so I made the decision to significantly increase our investments. Unfortunately, this did not play out the way I expected. Not only has online commerce returned to prior trends, but the macroeconomic downturn, increased competition, and ads signal loss have caused our revenue to be much lower than I’d expected. I got this wrong, and I take responsibility for that," he said.

Laying out the details of the severance package, Meta will pay 16 weeks of base pay plus two additional weeks for every year of service, with no cap and it will pay for all remaining PTO time.

Also Read: A year later, what has Facebook achieved since its rebranding to Meta?

Zuckerberg said everyone impacted will receive their November 15, 2022 vesting and the firm will also cover the cost of healthcare for people and their families for six months.

"We’ll provide three months of career support with an external vendor, including early access to unpublished job leads,"

For those who were working on a visa, there’s a notice period before termination and some visa grace periods, which means everyone will have time to make plans and work through their immigration status. "We have dedicated immigration specialists to help guide you based on what you and your family need," he said.

Also Read: Twitter lays off large part of India team — here's what some Indian staff said

The firm will also roll out more cost-cutting changes in the coming months.

"We’re also extending our hiring freeze through Q1 with a small number of exceptions. I’m going to watch our business performance, operational efficiency, and other macroeconomic factors to determine whether and how much we should resume hiring at that point. This will give us the ability to control our cost structure in the event of a continued economic downturn," Zuckerberg said.

First Published:Nov 9, 2022 4:56 PM IST