Mozilla, a not-for-profit organization and the developer behind the Mozilla Firefox browser announced a reduction in it’s workforce of 60 employees. This announcement follows a trend of layoffs within the tech industry early in the year. Among the companies making such cuts are Google, Snap and others.
The company stated that it will be laying off 60 employees, constituting approximately five percent of it’s total headcount. Most of these affected employees come from the product development team, according to reports by Bloomberg. This downsizing follows a significant restructuring effort prompted by the recent appointment of a new CEO.
In a statement to Engadget, the company said, “We are scaling back investment in some product areas in order to focus on areas that we feel have the greatest chance of success. To do so, we’ve made the difficult decision to eliminate approximately 60 roles from across the company. We intend to re-prioritize resources towards products like Firefox Mobile, where there’s a significant opportunity to grow and establish a better model for the industry”.
An internal memo, as reported by TechCrunch, reveals plans to discontinue investments in various products, including it’s VPN service and a tool designed to automatically scrub users’ personal information from data brokers. The company’s latest tool, Scrub, announced just a week ago, will also be affected. Additionally, Mozilla will shut down Hubs, it’s 3D virtual world launched in 2018, and reduce resources allocated to it’s Mastodon instance.
Conversely, Mozilla intends to redirect it’s focus toward generative AI, a move not unexpected according to the memo. The company states, “In 2023, generative AI began rapidly shifting the industry landscape. Mozilla seized an opportunity to bring trustworthy AI into Firefox, largely driven by the Fakespot acquisition and the product integration work that followed. Additionally, finding great content is still a critical use case for the internet. Therefore, as part of the changes today, we will be bringing together Pocket, Content and the AI/ML teams supporting content with the Firefox Organization.“
This restructuring follows the recent appointment of a new CEO. Laura Chambers, a former executive at Airbnb, PayPal and eBay, who has been a member of Mozilla’s board for three years, was appointed as the chief executive for the remainder of the year. “Her focus will be on delivering successful products that advance our mission and building platforms that accelerate momentum,” Mitchell Baker, Mozilla’s former long-time CEO, and it’s new executive chairman, wrote when Chambers took on the job.
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