Facebook parent Meta cuts 11k jobs

Meta, like other social media companies, enjoyed financial boost during pandemic lockdowns, but after it, revenue growth began to falter. Pic/AP

Facebook parent Meta is laying off 11,000 people, about 13 per cent of its workforce, as it contends with faltering revenue and broader tech industry woes, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a letter to employees Wednesday.

The job cuts come just a week after widespread layoffs at Twitter under its new owner, billionaire Elon Musk. There have been numerous job cuts at other tech companies that hired rapidly during the pandemic. Zuckerberg said he had made the decision to hire aggressively, anticipating rapid growth even after the pandemic. "Unfortunately, this did not play out the way I expected," Zuckerberg said. "Not only has online commerce returned to prior trends, but the macroeconomic downturn, increased competition, and ads signal loss have caused our revenue to be much lower than I'd expected. I got this wrong, and I take responsibility for that."

Mark Zuckerberg

Meta, like other social media companies, enjoyed a financial boost during the pandemic lockdowns because more people stayed home and scrolled on their phones and computers. But as lockdowns ended and people started going outside, revenue growth began to falter. An economic slowdown and grim outlook for online advertising - by far Meta's biggest revenue source - contributed to Meta's woes.

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