Meta job cuts affect 11,000 workers as it invests heavily in metaverse

Layoffs from big tech companies just keep coming and Meta employees are the latest to be affected. 

CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Wednesday that Facebook’s parent company Meta is laying off 11,000 people, or reducing its workforce by 13%, placing the blame on the effects of the pandemic. 

It was announced around 3 am PST that select staff’s access to “most Meta systems” would be removed immediately, resulting in many employees taking to LinkedIn and other social media platforms to announce their change in employment status. 

“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” Zuckerberg shared, adding that Meta will now focus on a “smaller number of high priority growth areas” — including Meta’s AI discovery engine, advertising, business platforms, and Zuckerberg’s long-term metaverse vision.

Meta’s mass layoffs, among the largest this year, follow thousands of job cuts at other tech companies, such as Elon Musk’s Twitter, Microsoft Corp, and Snapchat.