More than 11,000 employees of Meta Platforms Inc will be sacked in one of the biggest layoffs this year as the Facebook parent battles soaring costs and a weak advertising market.

The company on Wednesday confirmed that it would let go of 13 per cent of its workforce.

The mass layoffs, the first in Meta’s 18-year history, follow thousands of job cuts at other major tech companies including Elon Musk-owned Twitter and Microsoft Corp.

The pandemic-led boom that boosted tech companies and their valuations has turned into a bust this year in the face of decades-high inflation 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 Mark Zuckerberg said in a message to employees.

Loading

“I got this wrong, and I take responsibility for that.”

Meta, whose shares have lost more than two-thirds of their value so far this year, rose nearly 3 per cent before the bell.

The company also plans to cut discretionary spending and extend its hiring freeze through the first quarter. But it did not disclose the expected cost savings from the moves.