Mark Zuckerberg yesterday announced that Meta would fire 11,000 employees.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg called himself responsible and offered words of appreciation to the company's employees yesterday, as he fired 11,000 of them over a video call. Yesterday, nearly 13% of the workforce at Facebook's parent company Meta was laid off.
"I want to say, upfront, that I take full responsibility," said Zuckerberg, according to a recording of the video call that has been leaked.
The reductions are the first major budget cut in Facebook since the company's inception in 2004. The layoffs are aimed at reducing costs after disappointing earnings and a drop in revenue. Meta, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, will also extend its hiring freeze through the first quarter.
In the video, Mark Zuckerberg tells employees, "There must be a range of emotions. I am the founder and CEO and responsible for the health and direction of our company and for deciding how we execute that including decisions like this."
“This was ultimately my call. It was one of the hardest calls I had to make in the 18 years of the running of the company," he says.
On the people being laid off, Zuckerberg said, "We are losing people who put their heart and soul into it. Each of you has played a role in making it (Facebook) the success that it is."