No one is spared in the tech industry: the Mozilla Foundation lays off 30% of its staff

The Mozilla Foundation, the non-profit organization behind the Mozilla Firefox browser, has laid off 30% of its staff to adapt to what it describes as a “relentless onslaught of changes.” Brandon Borrman, Mozilla’s head of communications, confirmed the layoffs in an email sent to TechCrunch, where he detailed that this decision is in response to the need to restructure teams and “increase agility and impact” in their work towards “a more open and equitable technical future.”

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Mozilla is structured into several entities, including Mozilla Corporation, which develops Firefox and other tools, and the Mozilla Foundation, which oversees the direction and defines the organization’s policies. The foundation maintains its focus on promoting privacy, inclusion, and greater transparency on the internet, and has highlighted its commitment to creating “safer online experiences” for users.

In its 2022 annual statements, the Foundation detailed that it had 60 employees; however, at the time of these latest layoffs, the staff was closer to 120 workers, according to close sources. Mozilla already carried out another staff cut in February of this year, which affected 60 workers responsible for the development of the Firefox browser.

Mozilla’s CEO, Nabiha Syed, announced the layoffs on October 30 in a message to the staff, indicating that the “advocacy” and “global programs” divisions would no longer be part of the foundation’s structure. According to Syed, these measures aim to consolidate a “unified and powerful narrative” at Mozilla, which includes revamping strategic communications to improve internal and external cohesion.

Syed, who took on his role in February after leading The Markup, a website dedicated to data journalism, stated that Mozilla is facing a time of distractions that requires a “very direct focus”, and concluded his letter by saying that “sometimes, saying goodbye to the excellent work that has brought us here is necessary to achieve new goals.”

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