Facebook parent Meta is laying off 11,000 people, about 13% of i𝔍ts workforce, as it contends with faltering revenue and broader tech industry woes, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a letter to employees Wednesday.
The move 🧸that co🍎mes just a week after widespread layoffs at Twitter under its new owner, billionaire Elon Musk.
Meta, like other social media companies, enjoyed a financial boost during the pandemic lockdown era bec🧸ause more people stayed home and scrolled on their phones and comput𝓀ers.
But as the lockdowns ended aꦅnd people started going outside again, revenue growth began to falter.
An econo🌄mic slowdown and a grim outlook for online advertising — by fa💙r Meta's biggest revenue source — have contributed to Meta's woes.
This summer, Me🐎ta posted its fi꧋rst quarterly revenue decline in history, followed by another, bigger decline in the fall.
Some of the pain is company-specific, while some is tied to broader economic anꩲdℱ technological forces.
Last week, Twitter laid off 🎀about half of its 7,500 employees, part of a 🥃chaotic overhaul as Musk took the helm.
He tweeted that there was no choice but to cut the jobs “when the company is losing over $4M/day," though did not 🌃provide details about the losses.
Meta has worried investors by pouring over $10 billion a year into the “metaverse” as it shifts its focus away from social media. CEO Ma🌊rk Zuckerberg pred𒈔icts the metaverse, an immersive digital universe, will eventually replace smartphones as the primary way people use technology.
Meta and its advertisers ar💧e bracing for a potential recession.
There's also the challenge of𒁃 Apple's privacy tools, which m🍸ake it more difficult for social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Snap to track people without their consent and target ads to them.
Competition from TikTok is also an a growing threat as younger people flock to the video sharing app over Instagram, which Meta also owns.
