Meta will lay off 13 percent of its workforce

META | From Facebook

13 percent of the total number of employees or more than 11 thousand workers have been laid off, Facebook's controlling organization Meta said. If implemented, it would be the largest layoff of the year in the United States.

According to the announcement today, Wednesday (November 9), Meta made the decision considering the company's rising costs and weak advertising market.

Meta also owns the popular digital media platforms Instagram and WhatsApp.

Meta's layoffs are the first in its company's 18-year history and are on such a large scale, after thousands of layoffs at other leading technology companies such as Twitter and Microsoft.

The profits that tech companies saw during the pandemic have 'boomeranged' this year with the highest inflation in a decade and rising interest rates, according to a report by the international news agency Reuters.

In a message to employees, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, “Not only has online commerce not recovered, but the macroeconomic downturn, increased competition and losses in the advertising sector have resulted in lower-than-expected revenue. I made a mistake, and I take full responsibility for it."

Zuckerberg stressed the importance of 'being more capital efficient', saying, “The company will spend resources on a higher priority basis. These include 'AI' engine discovery, advertising, trading platforms and Metaverse projects."

Meta said compensation for laid-off workers would include 16 weeks of basic pay plus an additional two weeks' pay for work each year.

According to the company, the laid off workers will also receive six more months of health care costs.

Meta said the company decided to cut back on non-essential costs as well as lay off staff in the first quarter.

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