Meta officials have denied rumors that billionaire Mark Zuckerberg is planning to step down as CEO of the company.
Insiders had told The Leak that the 38-year-old has decided to step down as the head of Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.
They say the decision 'will not affect' the Metaverse, Zuckerberg's multi-billion dollar virtual reality project that has lost the company at least $30 billion.
But Andy Stone, a communications official for the company, tweeted on Tuesday November 22, 'This is false.'
The claims came after Mr. Zuckerberg was forced to make "difficult" changes to his company.
Investors and analysts have blamed the company's downfall on Zuckerberg and other executives shifting their focus to the Metaverse, which has yet to gain sufficient interest.
Share prices for the social media giant are now down nearly 70 percent over last year, but were trending upward following the report.
The same reports show the division made $5.3 billion of revenue in 2021, with $30.7 billion worth of losses since funding began in 2019.
In a statement shared with employees on November 9, the CEO defended a decision to reduce Meta's workforce by 11,000.
He said: "Today I’m sharing some of the most difficult changes we’ve made in Meta’s history.
"I’ve decided to reduce the size of our team by about 13% and let more than 11,000 of our talented employees go.
"We are also taking a number of additional steps to become a leaner and more efficient company by cutting discretionary spending and extending our hiring freeze through Q1.
"I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here. I know this is tough for everyone, and I’m especially sorry to those impacted."