Zuckerberg fires 11k workers via email

Meta - the owner of Instagram, Facebook and Whatsapp - has joined other tech companies in cutting jobs amid declines in digital revenue.

Meta - the owner of Instagram, Facebook and Whatsapp - has joined other tech companies in cutting jobs amid declines in digital revenue.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has slashed 11,000 jobs at Meta as the social media giant joins other tech companies in cutting jobs amid declines in digital revenue and consumer spending.

Mr Zuckerberg announced Meta – the owner of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp – was eliminating about 13% of its global workforce in an email to staff on Wednesday.

Meta’s stock has plunged to its lowest level since 2016 and the company’s metaverse division Reality Labs has lost $9.4 billion this year.

Digital revenues boomed throughout the pandemic in 2021 as most of the developed world was in lockdown and fuelled a hiring spree across the tech sector.

Meta increased its workforce by about 60% and Mr Zuckerberg on Wednesday said he had been wrong to assume the surging revenue would last.

“Many people predicted this would be a permanent acceleration that would continue even after the pandemic ended. I did too, so I made the decision to significantly increase our investments,” he said.

“Unfortunately, this did not play out the way I expected.”

Meta is currently advertising for a policy programs manager to be based in Sydney or Melbourne. 

A spokeswoman declined to answer questions on whether any Australian employees would lose their jobs or what areas of the business would be impacted by the lay-offs. 

Singapore based marketing lead for Meta Monika Peitrowski announced on LinkedIn she’d lost her job after four years with the company. 

“This morning, along with 11,000 of my colleagues, my time at Meta came to an end,” she said. 

“I’ve had an incredible 4 year journey here. I’ve had the privilege to work with the most talented people, learn so much, and work on many impactful projects.” 

Texan based technical recruiting professional Maria Kryuchkova and learning experience engineer Antoinette Miller also said on LinkedIn they’d lost their jobs. 

Meta is just the latest tech company to slash workers as the tech sector haemorrhages jobs, money and stock prices.

Digital marketing agency King Kong founder Sabri Suby said no company was safe in the current market and said the cuts were a much needed reality check after unrealistic growth over the past two-years. 

“Just because Facebook, VOLY, Twitter and Snap are all names we recognise; doesn‘t mean it isn’t happening elsewhere,” he said.

“This is just what happens when you go from a bull market to a bear market.“

Billionaire Elon Musk has slashed about 3,700 jobs at Twitter – about half of the total workforce – since purchasing the social media platform for $44 billion last month. 

Cloud-based software company Salesforce announced on Tuesday it would lay off nearly 1000 employees.

Rideshare platform Lyft has cut 13% of its staff, about 700 jobs, while online payment giant Stripe has laid off about 14%, about 1,100 of its employees.

Cryptocurrency platform Coinbase laid off 1,100 workers, 18% of its entire workforce, while e-commerce platform Shopify has laid off 1,000 or 10% of its entire workforce.

Streaming service Snap, which owns social media platform Snapchat, has cut 20% of its workforce after laying off 1,000 employees this year.

Retail brokerage firm Robinhood has this year cut 31% of its staff and chief executive officer Vlad Tenev has blamed the crypto market crash as well as the broader economic downturn.

In Australia, tech startups have been haemorrhaging staff over 2022 after a high growth cash burning boom.

HeathMatch, a tech start up backed by Malcolm and Lucy Turnbull, has cut 50% of its staff while Australian cryptocurrency exchange Swyftx has laid off 21% of its staff, about 74 jobs.