--- title: "Facebook Is Laying Off 11 THOUSAND Employees" description: "It's not a great day over at Meta, where 11,000 people just learned that they're out of a job as CEO Mark Zuckerberg announces mass layoffs." date: "2022-11-09" modified: "2022-11-09" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/facebook-meta-11000-layoffs" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "facebook" - "mark zuckerberg" - "metaverse" - "the digest" --- # Facebook Is Laying Off 11 THOUSAND Employees ![It's not a great day over at Meta, where 11,000 people just learned that they're out of a job as CEO Mark Zuckerberg announces mass layoffs.]() *\Image: Getty Images/Futurism\* ## Letting Go It's not a great day over at [Meta-formerly-Facebook](), where 11,000 people — that's [approximately the population]() of the island nation of Tuvalu — just learned that they're out of a job as CEO Mark Zuckerberg announces mass layoffs. "I’ve decided to reduce the size of our team by about 13 percent and let more than 11,000 of our talented employees go," [Zuckerberg wrote in a letter]() to employees on Wednesday, calling the layoffs "some of the most difficult changes we’ve made in Meta’s history." The news, while horrible for the people implicated, is not entirely unexpected — last month, [*Insider* reported]() that up to 12,000 layoffs could be coming, and at the end of September, reports broke that employees were being placed on a "[30-day list]()" that was, it seems, a sort of waitlist for being let go. In a section titled "How did we get here?" the CEO danced around the elephant in the room: that the layoffs follow a historic stock selloff that followed his [huge bet on the company's Metaverse](), which has seen tens of billions of dollars of company investment and a name change to boot [without any major technological advancements]() to make it a success. https://twitter.com/treyals/status/1590303792083652609 ## White Elephant Zuckerberg appeared to almost admit that he made some bad investments in the COVID-19 e-commerce boom, though he didn't say it outright. "Many people predicted this would be a permanent acceleration that would continue even after the pandemic ended," the company founder wrote. "I did too, so I made the decision to significantly increase our investments. Unfortunately, this did not play out the way I expected." "I got this wrong," he added, "and I take responsibility for that." After declaring that Meta needs to "become more capital efficient" — an understatement if we've ever heard one — Zuckerberg reiterated the company's recent line about restructuring departments, adding that it will be "scaling back budgets, reducing perks, and shrinking our real estate footprint." This appears to be the first time Zuckerberg has taken something close to accountability for his seemingly-premature Metaverse gambit — and it clearly comes at a huge cost. **More Zuck:** [*Interesting Theory: Mark Zuckerberg Is Trying to Become God and Build Heaven*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()