Meta to lay off employees beginning on Wednesday, report says

Mark Zuckerberg says he was over-optimistic about the company's growth

A car passes the Meta logo on a sign at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, California. AP

Meta Platforms will begin laying off employees on Wednesday morning, chief Mark Zuckerberg told hundreds of executives on Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Mr Zuckerberg appeared downcast in Tuesday's meeting and said he was accountable for the company's missteps and his over-optimism about growth had led to overstaffing, the report added, citing people familiar with the matter.

He described broad cuts and specifically mentioned the recruiting and business teams as among those facing layoffs, the report said. It added that an internal announcement of the company's layoff plans was expected at about 6am ET on Wednesday.

The specific employees losing their jobs will be informed over the course of the morning, the report said.

Meta's head of human resources, Lori Goler, said employees who lose their jobs will be provided with at least four months of salary as severance, the WSJ reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Meta reported more than 87,000 employees at the end of September.

The company declined to comment on the report.

The development comes after Twitter laid off half its workforce across teams ranging from communications and content curation to product and engineering following Elon Musk's $44 billion takeover.

However, Bloomberg on Sunday reported that Twitter was reaching out to dozens of employees who had lost their jobs, asking them to return.

Microsoft also laid off about 1,000 employees across several divisions in October, Axios reported.