Meta Layoffs

Meta (Facebook) CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced yesterday the tech company is cutting 11,000 jobs this week, a 13% cut amid a broader digital advertising downturn and skepticism of the company's bet on the metaverse. Meta also announced it is extending a hiring freeze through the first quarter of 2023. Read Zuckerberg's letter to employees here.

The major layoffs are the company's first after 18 years of growth ended this summer with its first quarterly decline in revenue. The social media giant's market capitalization peaked last year at $1T (see chart) but has since lost almost 80% of its value as the pandemic-induced tech boom fizzled and video-centric competitor TikTok makes inroads into the market.

Meta is not alone in cutting jobs of late; other tech companies include Lyft, payment processor Stripe, and Twitter, whose workforce was halved last week. Shares of Meta jumped as high as 8% on the layoff news.