Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg addressed employees virtually on Wednesday around 1pm ET, hours after the company announced it is laying off 13% of its staff. A partial video was obtained by NBC News.
In a letter early Wednesday morning, Zuckerberg said Meta is making reductions in every organization but that recruiting will be disproportionately affected since the company plans to hire fewer people in 2023. The company extended its hiring freeze through the first quarter with a few exceptions, Zuckerberg said.
Impacted employees will receive 16 weeks of pay plus two additional weeks for every year of service, Zuckerberg said. Meta will cover health insurance for six months.
Here’s a transcript of what he said in the video segment:
I know there must be just a range of different emotions. I want to say up front that I take full responsibility for this decision.
I’m the founder and CEO, I’m responsible for the health of our company, for our direction, and for deciding how we execute that, including things like this, and this was ultimately my call.
And it was one of the hardest calls that I’ve had to make in the 18 years of running the company. And a lot of why it’s hard is, obviously, it has a big impact on your lives, but also for our mission. We’re losing people who… you’ve really put your heart and soul into this place.
Each of you is talented and passionate, and each of you has played a role in making Meta the success that it is. No matter what team you may have worked on, each of you played a role in contributing to the products that billions of people use to connect every day.