- Meta announces it will lay off 13% of its workforce
- 11,000 staff globally expected to lose their jobs.
- Mark Zuckerberg admits responsibility for misreading company’s prospects.
- He cites the macroeconomic downturn and increased competition as part of the problem.
Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown:
‘’Mark Zuckerberg’s ‘mea culpa’ statement is unlikely to do the trick of reassuring investors, instead they may be further rattled by his admission he over-estimated the company’s prospects. It’s clear he expected the surge in online advertising experienced during the pandemic to continue and under-estimated just how quickly rivals could entice users away. Given that the jobs cuts were already expected and had largely been priced in, the focus will now be on the monumental task Meta faces to claw back revenue. It faces an uphill battle in its attempt to attract younger audiences who are now dancing to the Pied Piper tunes of TikTok, or setting up groups and channels on Discord and Telegram.
At the same time Meta funds are being poured down into the dark plumbing of the metaverse, and it’s highly unclear when revenues will emerge from this expensive venture. He may have taken responsibility for the current situation, but he is still using the same language of shifting resources to high priority growth areas, and the metaverse still features on that list.‘’