• by Colin Kirkland , March 14, 2023

After 13% of the company (or 11,000 employees) was cut in November, Meta has announced additional rounds of layoffs in which 10,000 employees will be cut over the next two months, as well as canceling 5,000 open roles, per CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

“My hope is to make these org changes as soon as possible in the year so we can get past this period of uncertainty and focus on the critical work ahead,” wrote Zuckerberg in a lengthy memo to employees posted to his Facebook page.

This week will mark the first round of layoffs and will center around Meta's recruiting organization. The next round will be centered on tech roles and begin in April, with the third round, taking on business roles, beginning in May.

The announcement falls under Meta's “Year of Efficiency,” a term Zuckerberg coined after the company's massive revenue loss last year, which the CEO refers to in his statement as a “humbling wake-up call.”

In addition to job cuts, Meta also plans to cancel lower-priority projects, such as the recent rollback of NFT capabilities on Instagram and Facebook.

“We’ll need to operate more efficiently than our previous headcount reduction to ensure success,” Zuckerberg added, citing higher interest rates, geopolitical instability, increased regulation, and higher costs of innovation.

Zuckerberg went on to state that the company's largest investment is in “advancing AI and building it into every one of our products,” adding mentions of continued development on the metaverse.