“We expect to reduce the size of our team by approximately 10,000 people and close approximately 5,000 additional open roles,” Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said in a message to employees.
The layoffs are part of a broader restructuring at Meta that will see the company flatten its organizational structure, cancel low-priority projects and reduce its hiring rates as part of the move. The news sent Meta’s shares up 2% in premarket trading.
The move underscores Zuckerberg’s push to turn 2023 into the “year of efficiency,” promising $5 billion in cost cuts from $89 billion to $95 billion.
A worsening economy has led to massive job cuts in corporate America: from Wall Street banks like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to big tech firms including Amazon.com and Microsoft.
The tech industry has laid off more than 280,000 workers since the start of 2022, with about 40% of them coming this year, according to the layoff tracking site.
Meta, which is pouring billions of dollars into building a futuristic metaverse, is grappling with a post-pandemic slump in advertising spending from companies facing high inflation and rising interest rates.
Meta’s move to reduce its workforce by 13% in November marked the first mass layoffs in its 18-year history. It plans to have a workforce of 86,482 by the end of 2022, a 20% increase from a year ago.
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