[ti:Facebook Parent Company Meta Cuts 11,000 Jobs] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]Meta, the company that owns the social media service Facebook, [00:04.76]announced Wednesday that it will cut 11,000 jobs. [00:10.56]Company chief Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook in 2004. [00:17.04]In a letter to employees, he took responsibility [00:20.48]for misjudging how the economy would change [00:24.00]after COVID-19 restrictions ended. [00:27.96]"This did not play out the way I expected," Zuckerberg wrote. [00:33.32]He pointed to a loss of advertising [00:36.88]and said people used their computers and mobile phones [00:41.56]less often after the pandemic ended. [00:44.60]He said he made the choice to hire more people [00:48.52]because he expected the company's profits to grow. [00:52.56]"I got this wrong," he wrote. [00:56.48]The price of Meta stock shares [00:59.28]has gone down by over 70 percent in 2022. [01:04.64]At the same time, Zuckerberg directed the company [01:08.84]to invest $10 billion each year to create "the metaverse." [01:15.44]Zuckerberg believes a digital universe [01:19.36]will soon replace smart phones [01:22.16]as the main way people use technology. [01:26.36]In the summer, Zuckerberg's company [01:29.32]reported its first-ever revenue drop. [01:32.52]It reported another drop in the autumn. [01:37.28]A worldwide economic slowdown [01:40.48]and a bad expectation for advertising [01:43.16]hurt Meta and other social media companies. [01:46.80]For example, Twitter cut 7,500 jobs last week [01:52.04]as businessman Elon Musk [01:54.96]took over the social media service. [01:58.60]In addition, some social media companies are having trouble [02:02.52]getting the same amount of information from their users. [02:05.84]Last year, Apple made changes to the way [02:09.92]its iPhones report user activity. [02:12.96]The changes make it harder for social media companies [02:16.92]such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat [02:20.76]to send targeted advertisements to phone owners. [02:26.16]In addition to the job cuts, Meta said it will not hire new employees [02:31.88]at least until the spring of 2023. [02:35.72]Zuckerberg said the company made changes [02:38.24]to cut costs, but it was not enough. [02:42.00]He called the choice to cut jobs a "hard decision." [02:47.84]Meta employees will soon find out if they have a job by email. [02:52.64]If their job is cut, they will be able to use their company email [02:57.76]to say goodbye to co-workers. [03:00.32]They will receive at least 16 weeks of pay if they lose their jobs. [03:06.56]The company's stock market price [03:09.12]rose about six percent after the news was released. [03:12.84]I'm Dan Friedell. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM