Mumbai: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has sacked about 11,000 employees, which is about 13 per cent of the company’s workforce.

As per media reports, in an official statement, Zuckerberg said, "Today I'm sharing some of the most difficult changes we've made in Meta's history. I've decided to reduce the size of our team by about 13 per cent and let more than 11,000 of our talented employees go. We are also taking a number of additional steps to become a leaner and more efficient company by cutting discretionary spending and extending our hiring freeze through Q1."

This is considered to be one of the largest layoffs in the US this year. As of September, Meta employed over 87,000 people across the globe.

As stated in media reports, Zuckerberg informed employees on Tuesday about the job cuts. The social media company is looking at slashing costs after its feeble Q3 performance and due to the rise in the overall costs of the firm by a fifth in the previous quarter.

He added, "I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here. I know this is tough for everyone, and I'm especially sorry to those impacted."

This mass firing comes some weeks after one of Meta's largest shareholders, Altimeter Capital, wrote to Zuckerberg highlighting the need to cut costs at the company.

In an open letter, Altimeter Capital founder & CEO Brad Gerstner mentioned, "Meta has drifted into the land of excess—too many people, too many ideas, too little urgency. This lack of focus and fitness is obscured when growth is easy, but deadly when growth slows and technology changes."

He had suggested that Meta would have to cut jobs and reduce capital expenditure to stay on track. This comes at a time when the social media firm is struggling with the current economic slowdown.

The social media company, Twitter, under the new reign of Elon Musk, laid off a hefty number of employees across its offices. Biggies like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have also announced a freeze in hiring.