Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday confirmed that Meta was downsizing its team by 13%, which meant that more than 11,000 employees of the company would be laid off.
Zuckerberg said that the company would take additional steps to downsize and make it "more efficient".
"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," he said in the message.
This comes amid several reports, including one by the Wall Street Journal, about large-scale layoffs after a massive drop in Meta's earnings. In October, Meta's shares nosedived more than 20%.
Meta owns the social media websites Facebook and Instagram.
What laid-off employees will get
Zuckerberg detailed in his message that employees being laid off will be given severance and Meta will cash out paid time off. Immigration assistance will be given to those who are working on a visa.
The severance package will include 16 weeks of base pay and an additional two weeks' worth of pay for every year of service. Meta will also pay out stock-based compensation for employees. It will continue to cover health care for laid-off employees and their families for the next six months.
For employees who are immigrants, Zuckerberg said, "I know this is especially difficult if you're here on a visa. There's a notice period before termination and some visa grace periods, which means everyone will have time to make plans and work through their immigration status. We have dedicated immigration specialists to help guide you based on what you and your family need."
He said employees outside the US will also be given similar severance that is compliant with local laws.
'I got this wrong'
Zuckerberg said that he predicted that the surge of e-commerce during Covid would continue post-pandemic and hence "significantly increased" Meta investments. "Unfortunately, this did not play out the way I expected. 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," Zuckerberg said.
The Meta CEO said that the company has also cut costs in terms of reducing budgets, perks, and downsizing real estate.
He said, "We'll roll out more cost-cutting changes like this in the coming months."
Zuckerberg sought to allay the fears of those who retained their jobs by saying steps were being taken to "make sure our future is strong".
"I believe we are deeply underestimated as a company today. Billions of people use our services to connect, and our communities keep growing. Our core business is among the most profitable ever built with huge potential ahead. And we're leading in developing the technology to define the future of social connection and the next computing platform. We do historically important work. I'm confident that if we work efficiently, we'll come out of this downturn stronger and more resilient than ever," he said.
