Facebook parent company Meta announces another 10,000 layoffs

Facebook parent company Meta has confirmed it will cut 10,000 jobs in the coming months, on top of the 11,000 it cut in December, cutting its workforce by another 13 percent.

Combined, the cuts account for just under a quarter of the company’s 86,000 employees. Zuckerberg made the announcement on his Facebook page and shared the internal memo he sent employees.

In the US, the hiring teams will be the first to cut jobs. Affected technology teams will lose positions by the end of April and industry jobs will be cut in May.

Zuckerberg confirmed that there will also be international layoffs, but that they will be longer.

Overall, we expect to reduce our team size by approximately 10,000 people and close approximately 5,000 additional positions that we have not yet hired.

“This is going to be tough and there’s no escaping it. It means saying goodbye to talented and passionate colleagues who have been part of our success,” he said.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed the layoffs in an announcement Tuesday morning

Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page that the layoffs were part of the company's

Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page that the layoffs were part of the company’s “year of efficiency.”

The layoffs are part of a broader strategy to make the company “more efficient and leaner”.

‘Leaner is better. Since we reduced our workforce last year, a surprising result is that many things have moved faster. In hindsight, I underestimated the indirect costs of lower priority projects,” he said.

He specified that removing layers of management had led to faster efficiency.

The market reacted positively to the news – shares rose 5.5 percent after the announcement.

Now Meta will have about 60,000 employees.

In his announcement, Zuckerberg pointed to the disastrous decline of technology stocks as one of the reasons for the tapering.

“Last year was a humbling wake-up call. The global economy was changing, competitive pressures increased and our growth slowed significantly.

“We cut budgets, reduced our real estate footprint and made the difficult decision to lay off 13% of our workforce.

Now Meta will have about 60,000 employees.  Company spokesmen did not clarify which region the cuts would apply to, or if they are global.  Above, the company's headquarters in Menlo Park

Now Meta will have about 60,000 employees. Company spokesmen did not clarify which region the cuts would apply to, or if they are global. Above, the company’s headquarters in Menlo Park

Yesterday, VP Nada Stirratt stepped down from her position at the company after five years

Yesterday, VP Nada Stirratt stepped down from her position at the company after five years

“At this point, I think we need to prepare for the possibility that this new economic reality may persist for many years to come.

Higher interest rates lead to a leaner economy, more geopolitical instability leads to more volatility, and more regulation leads to slower growth and higher innovation costs.

“Given this outlook, we will need to work more efficiently than our previous headcount reductions to ensure success.

“In the face of this new reality, most companies will scale back their long-term vision and investments,” he said.

Meta’s troubles are in line with a wider round of layoffs in the tech industry, where growth once seemed insurmountable.

Microsoft has also launched a third round of layoffs as part of its previously announced 10,000 job cuts.

Twitter staff were rocked by brutal layoffs and chaos caused by Elon Musk’s hostile takeover of the company.