Meta Platforms Inc. spokesperson Andy Stone said in a tweet on Tuesday that a report on Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg stepping down next year was false.
News website The Leak earlier in the day reported that Zuckerberg was set to resign in 2023, citing an unnamed insider source. The report briefly sent the company’s shares up 1 percent.
Meta recently earlier this month that it would cut more than 11,000 jobs, or 13 percent of its workforce, as the Facebook parent doubled down on its risky metaverse bet amid a crumbling advertising market and decades-high inflation.
The mass layoffs, among the biggest this year and the first in Meta’s 18-year history, follow thousands of job cuts at other tech companies including Elon Musk-owned Twitter Inc., Microsoft Corp., and Snap Inc.
Like its peers, Meta aggressively hired during the pandemic to meet a surge in social media usage by stuck-at-home consumers. But business has suffered this year as advertisers and consumers pull the plug on spending in the face of soaring costs and rapidly rising interest rates.
“Not only has online commerce returned to prior trends, but the macroeconomic downturn, increased competition, and ads signal loss have caused our revenue to be much lower than I’d expected,” Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said in a message to employees.
“I got this wrong, and I take responsibility for that.”
Other than the job cuts, which will impact units across Meta with a disproportional hit to the recruiting and business teams, the company will also reduce office space, lower discretionary spending, and extend a hiring freeze into the first quarter to rein in expenses.
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