‘I was wrong’: Mark Zuckerberg’s message after firing more than 11 thousand people from the Meta

In this Wednesday, Target announced the layoff of more than 11 thousand people from its global offices, which is 13% of the total number of employees.

The layoffs will affect the company’s so-called “family of apps” — Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp — and Reality Labs’ virtual reality business.

Message from Mark Zuckerberg

Through a blog entry, Zuckerberg wrote an extensive post about the event.

Today I’m sharing some of the most difficult changes we’ve made in history. Target. I have decided to cut our team size by about 13% and lay off over 11,000 of our talented employees. We are also taking a number of additional steps to become a more agile and efficient company by reducing discretionary spending and extending the hiring moratorium during the first quarter.

I want to take responsibility for these decisions and how we got here. I know it’s hard for everyone, and I’m especially sorry for those who have been hurt.

He went on to point out the difficult path he had to take to reach this decision: he elaborates that high income during the pandemic caused a strong acceleration and increase in seats, but “did not work out as expected.”

At the beginning of COVID-19, the world quickly moved online and the rise of e-commerce led to excessive revenue growth. Many predicted that this would be a permanent acceleration that would continue even after the end of the pandemic. So did I, which is why I made the decision to significantly increase our investment. Unfortunately, this did not happen as expected. Not only is online commerce back on track, but the macroeconomic downturn, increased competition, and the loss of advertising signals have resulted in our revenues being much lower than I expected. I was wrong and I take responsibility for it.

In this new environment, we must be more efficient in terms of capital. We have redirected more of our resources to fewer high-priority growth areas such as our AI discovery engine, our advertising and trading platforms, and our long-term vision for the metaverse. We have cut costs across our business, including cutting budgets, cutting profits and reducing real estate footprint. We are restructuring teams to improve efficiency. But these measures alone won’t bring our spending in line with income growth, which is why I also made the difficult decision to lay off people.

what’s next

After blaming and detailing the benefits that workers will receive when they leave, he added other changes he is making to the company.

I view layoffs as a last resort, which is why we decided to check other sources of costs before laying off teammates. Overall, this will bring a significant cultural shift to the way we work. For example, as we reduce our real estate footprint, we are moving towards desktop sharing for people who already spend most of their time away from the office. We’ll be adding more of these cost-cutting changes over the coming months.

We are also extending the hiring moratorium during the first quarter with a few exceptions. I will review our business performance, operating efficiency and other macroeconomic factors to determine whether and to what extent we should resume hiring at this time. This will give us the ability to control the cost structure in the event of an ongoing economic downturn. It will also put us on the path to achieving a more efficient cost structure than we recently described to investors.

I am currently doing a comprehensive review of our infrastructure spending. As we build our AI infrastructure, we focus on becoming even more efficient with our capabilities. Our infrastructure will continue to be an important asset for Targetand I think we can do it for less.

Finally, he added his last sentences.

This is a sad time, and there is no getting away from it. To those who are leaving, I want to thank you again for everything you have put into this place. We wouldn’t be where we are today without your hard work, and I’m grateful for your input.

For those left behind, I know this is a difficult time for you too. Not only are we saying goodbye to people we have worked closely with, but many of you are unsure about the future. I want you to know that we are making these decisions to ensure a sustainable future.

I think that today we are deeply underestimated as a company. Billions of people use our communications services and our communities continue to grow. Our core business is one of the most profitable ever created with huge potential. And we are leaders in developing technologies that will shape the future of social connections and the next computing platform. We are doing historically important work. I am confident that if we work effectively, we will emerge from the crisis stronger and more resilient than ever.

In the coming weeks, we will share more about how we will work as a streamlined organization to achieve our priorities. In the meantime, I will say again how grateful I am to those of you who are leaving for all that you have done to advance our mission.

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