Technology
Meta, Facebook Parent Company To Sack 11,000 Workers
Meta, the American group which owns Facebook and Instagram, among other digital platforms, announced on Wednesday its intention to reduce its workforce by 13%, which will cut more than 11,000 jobs.
This social plan, one of the largest launched this year in the high-tech sector, is the first in the history of the company co-founded by Mark Zuckerberg 18 years ago. The mass lay-off is as a result of the soaring costs and the deterioration of the advertising market.
While the pandemic had boosted the activity of “tech” companies and caused their stock market valuation to soar, the return of inflation and the rise in interest rates are resulting this year in difficulties which have already led several other big names like Tesla or Microsoft to cut into their workforce.
“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. ” Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, said in a message to all Meta employees.
“I got this wrong, and I take responsibility for that..”
He added that the group wanted to focus its resources and capital on “high priority growth areas” , such as its artificial intelligence engine, advertising and professional platforms, or “metaverse” project.
Meta also plans to reduce its non-constrained expenses and extend the recruitment freeze until the end of the first quarter of 2023.
Employees whose position is abolished are eligible for an indemnity equivalent to 16 weeks of base salary plus two weeks per year of seniority.
Meta shares, whose value has fallen 71% since the start of the year, gained 3% in pre-opening trading on Wall Street after the announcements.
