Facebook owner Meta has laid off over 11,000 employees, in a bid to reduce headcount by about 13% as the social media giant struggles with declining revenues.
The company’s chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said in a notice to the employees that the changes were necessary due to declining advertising revenues after the COVID-19 tech boom.
Mr Zuckerberg said the surge in revenue recorded during the pandemic that led to outsized investments by the company cannot be sustained with the current economic downturn and increased competition.
An economic slowdown and a grim outlook for online advertising — by far Meta’s biggest revenue source — have contributed to Meta’s woes. This summer, Meta posted its first quarterly revenue decline in history, followed by another, bigger decline in the fall.
The company announced that the employees will get 16 weeks of base pay and two weeks for every year of service as severance. They will also receive health insurance for six months.
The job cuts come just a week after widespread layoffs at Twitter under its new owner, billionaire Elon Musk.
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