Meta is laying off 10,000 more employees

Meta's first cut somehow wasn't the deepest.

Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Tuesday in a written statement that the tech giant would lay off 10,000 more workers, adding to the 11,000 people it laid off back in November. Additionally, around 5,000 open roles that hadn't been filled yet will be closed. In other words, it's a hiring freeze on top of a large number of layoffs.

Zuckerberg acknowledged the cuts in a blog post updating Meta's "Year of Efficiency."

This will be tough and there's no way around that. It will mean saying goodbye to talented and passionate colleagues who have been part of our success. They've dedicated themselves to our mission and I'm personally grateful for all their efforts. We will support people in the same ways we have before and treat everyone with the gratitude they deserve.

Amid the layoffs, Meta has also announced that it is stepping away from NFTs to focus on other projects.

How many employees does Meta have?

According to TechCrunch, Meta's employee head-count came in at around 76,000 after November's layoffs. In the aftermath of this week's job cuts, that would bring the count down to around 66,000.

This is, unfortunately, just part of a wider trend in the world of big tech. Other tech firms of varying sizes like Lyft, Groupon, Vimeo, and Microsoft have all laid off workers in the last year due to broader economic difficulties.

In Meta's case, the company's rebrand to focus more on metaverse efforts rather than strictly social media doesn't seem to have done it any favors. Meta lost nearly $14 billion on metaverse investments in 2022.