GOAL lays off more than 11,000 employees of the 87,000 that currently work for said company, and that is that the American conglomerate of technology and social networks, based in Menlo Park, announced that it will lay off 13 percent of its workforce.
Through a letter addressed to his employees this Wednesday, November 9, the executive director of Meta, Mark ZuckerbergHe specified that these cuts are "some of the most difficult changes we have made in the history of Meta."
“I have decided to reduce our team by about 13 percent, so more than 11,000 of our talented employees will leave the company. We are also taking a series of additional measures with the aim of becoming a more agile and efficient organization, cutting discretionary expenses and extending the hiring freeze throughout the first quarter of 2023, “said the magnate.
The owner of the company that owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, stressed that he takes responsibility for these decisions and for having reached this situation. "I know it's hard on everyone, and I'm especially sorry for those who were impacted."
In reaching his decision, Zuckerberg traced back to the fact that, at the start of the COVID pandemic, the world moved rapidly online, and that boom in e-commerce led to skyrocketing revenue growth.
For this reason, he specified that many people predicted that it would be a constant acceleration that would continue beyond the pandemic. “Me too, and that is why I determined a significant increase in our investments. Unfortunately, this did not happen as I expected.
He highlighted that not only did online commerce return to its previous trajectory, but the macroeconomy went into recession, competition increased, and the loss of signal in advertising reduced revenues much more than expected. "I was wrong, and I take responsibility for that."
In this new context, he specified, "we need to be more efficient in the use of capital", which is why Meta directed a greater part of its resources towards a smaller number of growth areas that are highly prioritized, such as the artificial intelligence engine for discover content and platforms for ads and businesses.
“We have reduced budgets, benefits and our real estate spending. We are restructuring our teams to be more efficient. But these measures alone will not be able to realign our expenses with income, so I had to make the difficult decision to let part of our team go, "he said.
For the layoff process, the founder of Facebook specified that all employees will receive an email informing them of what these reductions imply for each one. Afterwards, each affected employee will have the opportunity to speak and get answers to any questions they have and participate in information sessions.
"There is no one good way to fire people, but we hope to be able to provide, as quickly as possible, all the relevant information to the people affected and do everything we can to help them overcome this situation"
In the United States, layoffs include severance pay, for which 16 weeks of base salary will be paid, plus two additional weeks for each year of service, with no cap; In addition to all pending vacations will be settled.
He added that in terms of acquisition rights of Restricted Shares "shares", all those affected will receive their acquired rights on November 15; the cost of medical care for the dismissed and their families will also be covered for six months.
To this, he added that three months of professional support will be provided with an external provider, including early access to job opportunities not yet published; while for those who had an employment visa, there is a notice period before it is considered terminated, and there are also grace periods, which gives time to plan and process the immigration status.
Outside the American union, he explained that people will have similar support and, shortly, these processes will be monitored separately, taking local labor laws into consideration.
“We made the decision to remove access to most of Meta's systems for people who are leaving the company today for reasons related to confidential information. But we will keep emails active throughout the day so everyone can say goodbye," Zuckerberg explained.
It should be noted that while the reductions are taking place in all organizations of the company, some teams will be more affected than others.
Thus, the contracting area will be substantially impacted, since it is planned to hire less staff, as in the commercial equipment area. “This is not a reflection of the great work that these groups have done, but of what we need to move forward. The leaders will schedule time to discuss what this means for each of the teams over the next few days."
Mark Elliot Zuckerberg highlighted that “the colleagues who leave us are talented and passionate about their work. They have had a major impact on our company and our community. Each one has helped make Meta successful and I am grateful for that. I'm sure they will continue to do a great job elsewhere."
The cuts will be added to other actions such as the cut in real estate spending, and the freezing of hiring until the first quarter, with some exceptions.
The changes are primarily for two reasons: the revenue outlook is lower than expected earlier this year, and to ensure efficient operation in both the family of apps and Reality Labs.
"This is a sad moment. There is no escaping from that. To those who are leaving, I want to thank you again for all you have contributed. We wouldn't be where we are today without their hard work, and I'm grateful for what they've done."
However, he assured that it is also a difficult moment for those who remain. “Not only are we laying off people we work closely with, but many are also feeling uncertainty about the future. I want to make it clear that we made these decisions to ensure a strong future for ourselves."
META's CEO explained that more information on optimized operations to achieve priority goals will be shared in the coming weeks.
It should be noted that a few days ago, the businessman and owner of Tesla, SpaceX and now Twitter, Elon Musk, fired approximately 50 percent of the 7,500 employees that the social network has in the world, this after having acquired it for more than 40 billion dollars, and as part of his plan to save money.
This, he said, because "unfortunately there is no other option when the company is losing more than 4 million dollars per day."
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