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Meta Layoffs 11,000 Employees: Read Mark Zuckerberg’s letter

(CTN NEWS) – Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s CEO, announced Wednesday that the company would lay off 13 percent of its staff, or approximately 11,000 workers.
In the letter, Zuckerberg said, “I am sharing some of the toughest changes Meta has ever faced.” “I will be cutting the size of the team by 13% and letting go of more than 11,000 talented employees.”
Our hiring freeze is also being extended through Q1 to become leaner and more efficient.”Wednesday morning, Meta shares rose about 7.7%.
In late October, Meta, Facebook’s parent company, provided lukewarm guidance for its fourth-quarter earnings, spooking investors and causing its shares to plunge nearly 20%.
Meta’s third-quarter costs and expenses jumped 19% year over year to $22.1 billion, causing investors concern. Overall sales fell 4% to $27.71 billion in the quarter, while operating income fell 46% to $5.66 billion from the previous year.
“I want to take responsibility for these decisions and how we got here. My sincere apologies go out to those who have been affected by this.”
The company plans to reduce staff in 2023, disproportionately affecting recruiting. According to Zuckerberg, the company extended its hiring freeze through the first quarter.
“It’s a sad moment, and that can’t be avoided. I want to thank those leaving again for all they have contributed to this place,” he concluded.
For every year of service, impacted employees will receive two additional weeks of pay, Zuckerberg said. For six months, Meta will cover health insurance.
It invests heavily in the metaverse, a developing digital world that can be accessed with virtual reality headsets or augmented reality glasses. Thus far, Meta has lost $9.4 billion in 2022 due to this hefty bet, and losses are expected to grow significantly.
During Meta’s third-quarter earnings call, Zuckerberg said the company would “focus on a small number of high-priority growth areas” during the coming year.
“Over the next year, some teams will grow meaningfully, but most will stay flat or shrink,” Zuckerberg said. “Ultimately, we expect to be roughly the same size, or even slightly smaller, than we are now by 2023.”
As of September 30, Meta had more than 87,000 employees.
Mark Zuckerberg’s letter to employees is below:
“Today, I’d like to tell you about some of Meta’s most difficult changes. I am letting go of more than 11,000 of our talented employees as part of my attempt to reduce the size of our team by about 13%.
By cutting discretionary spending and extending our hiring freeze through Q1, we will become a leaner and more efficient company.
I want to be held accountable for these decisions and how we got here. My sincere apologies go out to those affected by this tragedy.
How did we get here?
When Covid began, the world rapidly moved online, and e-commerce led to outsized revenue growth. There were many predictions that this acceleration would continue even after the pandemic ended.
I decided to significantly increase our investments because I felt the same way. Sadly, it didn’t work out the way I had hoped.
Our revenue has been much lower than expected due to a macroeconomic downturn, increased competition, and loss of ad signals. My mistake was on my part, and I take responsibility for it.
We must become more capital efficient in this new environment. Our resources have been reallocated to smaller high-priority areas, such as our AI discovery engine, ads and business platforms, and long-term vision for the metaverse.
Our business has scaled back budgets, reduced perks, and shrunk our real estate footprint to cut costs. To increase our efficiency, we are restructuring our teams. However, these measures alone will not bring our expenses in line with our revenue growth, so I have also let people go.
How will this work?
Layoffs are not easy, but we will get all the relevant information to you as soon as possible and support you in whatever way we can.
Each of you will receive an email soon explaining what this layoff means for you. Each affected employee will then have the opportunity to ask questions and attend information sessions.
Here are some details from the US:
- Termination. For every year of service, we will pay 16 weeks of base pay plus two additional weeks.
- PTO. All remaining PTO will be paid.
- RSU vesting. Vesting will be received by everyone affected on November 15, 2022.
- Health insurance. The cost of healthcare for people and their families will be covered for six months.
- Career Services. We’ll provide three months of career support with an external vendor, including early access to unpublished job leads.
Immigration support. It’s especially challenging if you’re on a visa. There is a notice period before termination and some visa grace periods, so everyone has time to make plans and work through their immigration status.
Based on what you and your family need, we have dedicated immigration specialists to assist you.
Our support outside the US will be similar, and we’ll follow up soon with local employment laws-compliant processes.
We removed access to most Meta systems for people leaving today because of the sensitive information they had access to. We’ll keep email addresses active throughout the day so everyone can say goodbye.
Although we are making reductions across the Family of Apps and Reality Labs, some teams will be impacted more than others. Since we plan to hire fewer people next year, recruiting will be disproportionately affected.
Our business teams are also being restructured substantially. These groups’ work does not reflect what we need going forward. In the next few days, the leaders of each group will schedule a time to discuss what this means for your team.
We will lose talented and passionate teammates who have significantly impacted our company and community. Thanks to each of you, Meta has been a success I hope you will continue to do great work at other organizations in the future.
Are there any other changes we should make?
As a last resort, we decided to cut other sources of cost before letting teammates go.The result will be a meaningful shift in our culture. We are transitioning to desk sharing for people who spend most of their time outside the office as we shrink our real estate footprint.
In the months ahead, we’ll implement more cost-saving changes.
We’re also extending our hiring freeze through Q1, with a few exceptions. Our business performance, operational efficiency, and other macroeconomic factors will determine whether and how much we should resume hiring at that point.
In the event of a continued economic downturn, this will allow us to control our cost structure. As a result, we will be able to achieve a more efficient cost structure than we outlined recently to investors.
Currently, I’m reviewing our infrastructure spending in depth. While constructing our AI infrastructure, we’re focused on becoming even more efficient. Meta will continue to benefit from its infrastructure, and I believe we can do so while spending less.
In essence, we’re making all these changes because our revenue outlook is lower than expected at the beginning of this year. We want to ensure we operate efficiently across the Family of Apps and Reality Labs.
What should we do next?
IThere is no escaping the sadness of the situation. I want to thank those leaving once again for all the work you’ve put into this place. Thanks to your hard work, we wouldn’t be where we are today.
I know this is a difficult time for those who are staying. Many of you also feel uncertain about the future as we say goodbye to people we’ve worked closely with. We are making these decisions to ensure our future is bright.
We are undervalued as a company today. We connect billions of people, and our communities continue to grow. With huge potential ahead, our core business is among the most profitable ever built.
In addition, we’re developing the next generation of computing platforms and social connection technologies. Our work is historically significant. We will come out of this downturn stronger and more resilient if we work efficiently.
We’ll share more about how we’ll operate as a streamlined organization in the coming weeks. One more time, I want to thank those who are leaving for all you’ve done to advance our mission.
Mark”
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Trudeau’s Gun Grab Could Cost Taxpayers a Whopping $7 Billion

A recent report indicates that since Trudeau’s announcement of his gun buyback program four years ago, almost none of the banned firearms have been surrendered.
The federal government plans to purchase 2,063 firearm models from retailers following the enactment of Bill C-21, which amends various Acts and introduces certain consequential changes related to firearms. It was granted royal assent on December 15 of last year.
This ban immediately criminalized the actions of federally-licensed firearms owners regarding the purchase, sale, transportation, importation, exportation, or use of hundreds of thousands of rifles and shotguns that were previously legal.
The gun ban focused on what it termed ‘assault-style weapons,’ which are, in reality, traditional semi-automatic rifles and shotguns that have enjoyed popularity among hunters and sport shooters for over a century.
In May 2020, the federal government enacted an Order-in-Council that prohibited 1,500 types of “assault-style” firearms and outlined specific components of the newly banned firearms. Property owners must adhere to the law by October 2023.
Trudeau’s Buyback Hasn’t Happened
“In the announcement regarding the ban, the prime minister stated that the government would seize the prohibited firearms, assuring that their lawful owners would be ‘grandfathered’ or compensated fairly.” “That hasn’t happened,” criminologist Gary Mauser told Rebel News.
Mauser projected expenses ranging from $2.6 billion to $6.7 billion. The figure reflects the compensation costs amounting to $756 million, as outlined by the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO).
“The projected expenses for gathering the illegal firearms are estimated to range from $1.6 billion to $7 billion.” “This range estimate increases to between $2.647 billion and $7 billion when compensation costs to owners are factored in,” Mauser stated.
Figures requested by Conservative MP Shannon Stubbs concerning firearms prohibited due to the May 1, 2020 Order In Council reveal that $72 million has been allocated to the firearm “buyback” program, yet not a single firearm has been confiscated to date.
In a recent revelation, Public Safety Canada disclosed that the federal government allocated a staggering $41,094,556, as prompted by an order paper question from Conservative Senator Don Plett last September, yet yielded no tangible outcomes.
An internal memo from late 2019 revealed that the Liberals projected their politically motivated harassment would incur a cost of $1.8 billion.
Enforcement efforts Questioned
By December 2023, estimates from TheGunBlog.ca indicate that the Liberals and RCMP had incurred or were responsible for approximately $30 million in personnel expenses related to the enforcement efforts. The union representing the police service previously stated that the effort to confiscate firearms is a “misdirected effort” aimed at ensuring public safety.
“This action diverts crucial personnel, resources, and funding from tackling the more pressing and escalating issue of criminal use of illegal firearms,” stated the National Police Federation (NPF).
The Canadian Sporting Arms & Ammunition Association (CSAAA), representing firearms retailers, has stated it will have “zero involvement” in the confiscation of these firearms. Even Canada Post held back from providing assistance due to safety concerns.
The consultant previously assessed that retailers are sitting on almost $1 billion worth of inventory that cannot be sold or returned to suppliers because of the Order-In-Council.
“Despite the ongoing confusion surrounding the ban, after four years, we ought to be able to address one crucial question.” Has the prohibition enhanced safety for Canadians? Mauser asks.
Illegally Obtained Firearms are the Problem
Statistics Canada reports a 10% increase in firearm-related violent crime between 2020 and 2022, rising from 12,614 incidents to 13,937 incidents. In that timeframe, the incidence of firearm-related violent crime increased from 33.7 incidents per 100,000 population in 2021 to 36.7 incidents the subsequent year.
“This marks the highest rate documented since the collection of comparable data began in 2009,” the criminologist explains.
Supplementary DataData indicates that firearm homicides have risen since 2020. “The issue lies not with lawfully-held firearms,” Mauser stated.
Firearms that have been banned under the Order-in-Council continue to be securely stored in the safes of their lawful owners. The individuals underwent a thorough vetting process by the RCMP and are subject to nightly monitoring to ensure there are no infractions that could pose a risk to public safety.
“The firearms involved in homicides were seldom legally owned weapons wielded by their rightful owners,” Mauser continues. The number of offenses linked to organized crime has surged from 4,810 in 2016 to a staggering 13,056 in 2020.
“If those in power … aim to diminish crime and enhance public safety, they ought to implement strategies that effectively focus on offenders and utilize our limited tax resources judiciously to reach these objectives,” he stated.
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Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding, But Still Accounting 48% Search Revenue

Google is so closely associated with its key product that its name is a verb that signifies “search.” However, Google’s dominance in that sector is dwindling.
According to eMarketer, Google will lose control of the US search industry for the first time in decades next year.
Google will remain the dominant search player, accounting for 48% of American search advertising revenue. And, remarkably, Google is still increasing its sales in the field, despite being the dominating player in search since the early days of the George W. Bush administration. However, Amazon is growing at a quicker rate.
Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding
Amazon will hold over a quarter of US search ad dollars next year, rising to 27% by 2026, while Google will fall even more, according to eMarketer.
The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the forecast.
Lest you think you’ll have to switch to Bing or Yahoo, this isn’t the end of Google or anything really near.
Google is the fourth-most valued public firm in the world. Its market worth is $2.1 trillion, trailing just Apple, Microsoft, and the AI chip darling Nvidia. It also maintains its dominance in other industries, such as display advertisements, where it dominates alongside Facebook’s parent firm Meta, and video ads on YouTube.
To put those “other” firms in context, each is worth more than Delta Air Lines’ total market value. So, yeah, Google is not going anywhere.
Nonetheless, Google faces numerous dangers to its operations, particularly from antitrust regulators.
On Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that Google must open up its Google Play Store to competitors, dealing a significant blow to the firm in its long-running battle with Fortnite creator Epic Games. Google announced that it would appeal the verdict.
In August, a federal judge ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly on search. That verdict could lead to the dissolution of the company’s search operation. Another antitrust lawsuit filed last month accuses Google of abusing its dominance in the online advertising business.
Meanwhile, European regulators have compelled Google to follow tough new standards, which have resulted in multiple $1 billion-plus fines.

Pixa Bay
Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding
On top of that, the marketplace is becoming more difficult on its own.
TikTok, the fastest-growing social network, is expanding into the search market. And Amazon has accomplished something few other digital titans have done to date: it has established a habit.
When you want to buy anything, you usually go to Amazon, not Google. Amazon then buys adverts to push companies’ products to the top of your search results, increasing sales and earning Amazon a greater portion of the revenue. According to eMarketer, it is expected to generate $27.8 billion in search revenue in the United States next year, trailing only Google’s $62.9 billion total.
And then there’s AI, the technology that (supposedly) will change everything.
Why search in stilted language for “kendall jenner why bad bunny breakup” or “police moving violation driver rights no stop sign” when you can just ask OpenAI’s ChatGPT, “What’s going on with Kendall Jenner and Bad Bunny?” in “I need help fighting a moving violation involving a stop sign that wasn’t visible.” Google is working on exactly this technology with its Gemini product, but its success is far from guaranteed, especially with Apple collaborating with OpenAI and other businesses rapidly joining the market.
A Google spokeswoman referred to a blog post from last week in which the company unveiled ads in its AI overviews (the AI-generated text that appears at the top of search results). It’s Google’s way of expressing its ability to profit on a changing marketplace while retaining its business, even as its consumers steadily transition to ask-and-answer AI and away from search.
Google has long used a single catchphrase to defend itself against opponents who claim it is a monopoly abusing its power: competition is only a click away. Until recently, that seemed comically obtuse. Really? We are going to switch to Bing? Or Duck Duck Go? Give me a break.
But today, it feels more like reality.
Google is in no danger of disappearing. However, every highly dominating company faces some type of reckoning over time. GE, a Dow mainstay for more than a century, was broken up last year and is now a shell of its previous dominance. Sears declared bankruptcy in 2022 and is virtually out of business. US Steel, long the foundation of American manufacturing, is attempting to sell itself to a Japanese corporation.
SOURCE | CNN
News
The Supreme Court Turns Down Biden’s Government Appeal in a Texas Emergency Abortion Matter.

(VOR News) – A ruling that prohibits emergency abortions that contravene the Supreme Court law in the state of Texas, which has one of the most stringent abortion restrictions in the country, has been upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. The United States Supreme Court upheld this decision.
The justices did not provide any specifics regarding the underlying reasons for their decision to uphold an order from a lower court that declared hospitals cannot be legally obligated to administer abortions if doing so would violate the law in the state of Texas.
Institutions are not required to perform abortions, as stipulated in the decree. The common populace did not investigate any opposing viewpoints. The decision was made just weeks before a presidential election that brought abortion to the forefront of the political agenda.
This decision follows the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that ended abortion nationwide.
In response to a request from the administration of Vice President Joe Biden to overturn the lower court’s decision, the justices expressed their disapproval.
The government contends that hospitals are obligated to perform abortions in compliance with federal legislation when the health or life of an expectant patient is in an exceedingly precarious condition.
This is the case in regions where the procedure is prohibited. The difficulty hospitals in Texas and other states are experiencing in determining whether or not routine care could be in violation of stringent state laws that prohibit abortion has resulted in an increase in the number of complaints concerning pregnant women who are experiencing medical distress being turned away from emergency rooms.
The administration cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in a case that bore a striking resemblance to the one that was presented to it in Idaho at the beginning of the year. The justices took a limited decision in that case to allow the continuation of emergency abortions without interruption while a lawsuit was still being heard.
In contrast, Texas has been a vocal proponent of the injunction’s continued enforcement. Texas has argued that its circumstances are distinct from those of Idaho, as the state does have an exemption for situations that pose a significant hazard to the health of an expectant patient.
According to the state, the discrepancy is the result of this exemption. The state of Idaho had a provision that safeguarded a woman’s life when the issue was first broached; however, it did not include protection for her health.
Certified medical practitioners are not obligated to wait until a woman’s life is in imminent peril before they are legally permitted to perform an abortion, as determined by the state supreme court.
The state of Texas highlighted this to the Supreme Court.
Nevertheless, medical professionals have criticized the Texas statute as being perilously ambiguous, and a medical board has declined to provide a list of all the disorders that are eligible for an exception. Furthermore, the statute has been criticized for its hazardous ambiguity.
For an extended period, termination of pregnancies has been a standard procedure in medical treatment for individuals who have been experiencing significant issues. It is implemented in this manner to prevent catastrophic outcomes, such as sepsis, organ failure, and other severe scenarios.
Nevertheless, medical professionals and hospitals in Texas and other states with strict abortion laws have noted that it is uncertain whether or not these terminations could be in violation of abortion prohibitions that include the possibility of a prison sentence. This is the case in regions where abortion prohibitions are exceedingly restrictive.
Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which resulted in restrictions on the rights of women to have abortions in several Republican-ruled states, the Texas case was revisited in 2022.
As per the orders that were disclosed by the administration of Vice President Joe Biden, hospitals are still required to provide abortions in cases that are classified as dire emergency.
As stipulated in a piece of health care legislation, the majority of hospitals are obligated to provide medical assistance to patients who are experiencing medical distress. This is in accordance with the law.
The state of Texas maintained that hospitals should not be obligated to provide abortions throughout the litigation, as doing so would violate the state’s constitutional prohibition on abortions. In its January judgment, the 5th United States Circuit Court of Appeals concurred with the state and acknowledged that the administration had exceeded its authority.
SOURCE: AP
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