Mark Zuckerberg said he wanted Meta to get to a 'scrappier place' following mass layoffs: report

• Mark Zuckerberg addressed staff in an all-hands meeting Thursday, The Washington Post reported.
• The Meta CEO said he wanted to get to a "scrappier place" after a recent round of layoffs.
• Zuckerberg dubbed 2023 a "year of efficiency" and had said he wanted to "flatten" the company.

Mark Zuckerberg addressed Meta staff in a companywide meeting Thursday after the latest round of layoffs.

According to a recording of the call obtained by The Washington Post, the Meta CEO said: "Going through restructuring and layoffs and changes like this is obviously a very difficult thing."

He continued: "So it's not like we're going to end up in exactly the place that we were before because that wasn't my goal. I wanted to get to a scrappier place."

Zuckerberg previously dubbed 2023 a "year of efficiency," saying he wanted to "flatten" the company and cut costs. He told staff in the meeting he hoped Meta would be more stable and less bureaucratic in the future, per The Post.

Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider, made outside normal working hours.

The Facebook owner began the final phase of its layoffs Wednesday, with 21,000 employees expected to be affected in total. The cuts largely hit Meta's business division, including HR, advertising, and policy teams, according to The Post's sources.

Meta has also cut several management and vice president-level employees in recent weeks, Insider's Kali Hays reported. One person familiar with the company told Insider the departures felt "constant." All of the people leaving worked in Meta's business divisions.