Firefox browser developer Mozilla lays off 60 employees

Mozilla, the developer of Firefox browser, is reportedly laying off 60 employees, as the company plans to scale back its investment in several products.

Mozilla said in a memo that it will focus on bringing “trustworthy AI into Firefox” and to do so, it will bring together Pocket, Content, and the AI/ML teams supporting content with the Firefox Organisation, reports TechCrunch.

“Given the reduction in staffing and lower headcount budget moving forward in ‘MozProd’, some roles have been consolidated in the People and other support services orgs so that we are offering the right level of support to our product portfolio,” the company said in the memo to employees.

Mozilla will also shut down Hubs, the 3D virtual world it launched back in 2018, and scale back its investment in its mozilla.social Mastodon instance.

“The actions we’re taking will make this strategic correction, working through a much smaller team to participate in the Mastodon ecosystem and more rapidly bring smaller experiments to people that choose to live on the mozilla.social instance,” the company added.

The company is reducing investment in market segments that “competitors crowd and where it is challenging to deliver a differentiated offering”.

There will be no changes to legal/policy, finance and business operations, marketing, or strategy and operations, it said.