The New York Times reported that Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s CEO, has declared 2023 the “year of efficiency,” and so far, this has translated into two rounds of mass layoffs over the past six months, with two more to come, which will eliminate more than 21,000 people.

Zuckerberg is also closing 5,000 open positions, which amounts to 30% of his company’s workforce. Despite not being the only big tech company to hit the brakes on spending, Meta is reportedly facing the most challenges. Its stock price has dropped 43% from its peak 19 months ago, and the company has reported consecutive quarters of declining revenue.

Additionally, some of its top executives have moved away and are managing large parts of the company from their new homes in places like London and Tel Aviv. These issues, along with concerns that Zuckerberg is making a bad bet on the future, have devastated employee morale at Meta.

Meta is doing well: Zuckerberg

Zuckerberg defended the job performance of senior leaders on April 19 after he laid off 4,000 workers in the United States. In a Washington Post report he said, “I think it’s somewhat difficult to kind of pin the … company’s performance on people who weren’t necessarily in those roles before,” said Zuckerberg.