Meta, the parent company of Facebook, announced on Wednesday November 9 the loss of 11,000 jobs, or around 13% of its workforce, confirming information from the American press. “Today I share some of the toughest changes we’ve made in Meta’s history”introduced the boss of the group, Mark Zuckerberg, in a message addressed to the employees.
This is the first wave of layoffs in the group’s history. Hiring within the group, which also owns the social network Instagram and the instant messaging service WhatsApp, is also frozen until the end of March 2023. “I want to take responsibility for those decisions and how we got here. I know it’s difficult for everyone, and I’m especially sorry for those affected.”Mr. Zuckerberg said.
Meta reported a disappointing financial performance in the third quarter with a sharp decline in revenue and profits and stagnant user numbers. Mr. Zuckerberg then announced that the group’s workforce could decrease by the end of 2023.
Massive departures in the tech sector
Meta does not immediately specify the geographical distribution of the job cuts. Employees terminated in the United States will receive sixteen weeks of base pay and two additional weeks of pay for each year of service. The company will cover their health insurance for six months.
The layoffs at Meta are part of the larger context of massive departures in the tech sector. At the end of August, Snap, the parent company of the Snapchat application, thus cut around 20% of its workforce, or more than 1,200 employees. Last week, two Silicon Valley companies, Stripe and Lyft, announced sweeping layoffs as Amazon froze office hiring.
Meta had some 87,000 employees worldwide as of September 30. Twitter, freshly bought by Elon Musk, has just fired about half of its 7,500 employees. Platforms, whose economic model is based on advertising, are particularly affected by the repercussions of budget cuts for advertisers, struggling with inflation and rising interest rates.
On Wall Street, where Meta’s announcement was widely anticipated, the group’s share price rose by just over 4% in electronic trading prior to the opening. “It’s a sad moment, and there’s no getting around it”Mr. Zuckerberg wrote. “To those who are leaving, I would like to thank you once again for all of your contributions”he added.