Facebook parent Meta cuts 11K jobs

In one of the worst lay-offs ever in the tech industry, Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday sacked more than 11,000 employees about 13 per cent of the global workforce and extended hiring freeze through Q1 2023. The Facebook and Instagram parent company reported over 87,000 employees (as of September).

The company also removed access to most Meta systems for people leaving, given the amount of access to sensitive information, "keeping email addresses active throughout the day so everyone can say farewell".

As a severance measure, the company will pay 16 weeks of basic pay, along with two additional weeks for every year of service, "with no cap".

In a statement, Zuckerberg said the company is going to take a number of additional steps to become a leaner and more efficient company by cutting discretionary spending and extending its hiring freeze through Q1.

"Today I'm sharing some of the most difficult changes we've made in Meta's history. I've decided to reduce the size of our team by about 13 per cent and let more than 11,000 of our talented employees go," said Zuckerberg.

"I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here. I know this is tough for everyone, and I'm especially sorry to those impacted," he added. The Meta CEO said that everyone will get an email soon letting them know what this layoff means for them.

"After that, every affected employee will have the opportunity to speak with someone to get their questions answered and join information sessions," he said.

Meta will pay for all remaining paid time off (PTO) time and everyone impacted will receive their November 15, 2022 vesting of shares. "We'll cover the cost of healthcare for people and their families for six months, said Zuckerberg, adding that the company will "provide three months of career support with an external vendor, including early access to unpublished job leads".

He blamed the macroeconomic downturn, increased competition and ads signal loss for the move, saying it caused "revenue to be much lower than I'd expected".