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The Mozilla Foundation, the non-profit arm of Firefox maker Mozilla, has laid off 30% of its staff as the organization says it faces a “relentless onslaught of change.”
When TechCrunch reached out to Mozilla’s head of communications, Brandon Burman, he confirmed the layoffs in an email.
“The Mozilla Foundation is realigning teams to increase agility and impact as we accelerate our work to ensure a more open and equitable technology future for all of us. This unfortunately means ending some of the work we have historically pursued and eliminating associated roles to bring more focus moving forward,” read the statement shared with TechCrunch.
According to its annual tax returns, the Mozilla Foundation Reported having 60 employees During the 2022 tax year. The number of employees at the time of the layoff was close to 120 people, according to a person familiar with the matter. When asked by TechCrunch, a Mozilla spokesperson did not dispute this number.
This is the second layoff at Mozilla this year, and the first to affect dozens of employees who work on the side of the organization that builds the popular Firefox browser.
Mozilla is Made up of several organizationsOne is Mozilla Corporation, which develops Firefox and other technologies, and the other is its tax-exempt, nonprofit foundation, which oversees Mozilla’s corporate governance structure and sets the browser maker’s policies.
Much of Mozilla’s work has focused on championing privacy, inclusion, and decentralization of technologies, and “creating safer and more transparent online experiences for everyone,” which ultimately benefits the browser maker and its users.
Announcing the layoffs in an email to all employees on October 30, Mozilla Foundation CEO Nabiha Sayed emphasized that two of the foundation’s key divisions – Invitation and Global programs “You are no longer part of our structure.”
Following publication, Borman told TechCrunch that “advocacy remains a core pillar of the Mozilla Foundation’s work and will be integrated into all other functional areas,” without providing details.
The move, according to Syed, is partly aimed at producing a “unified and strong narrative from the organization,” including revamping the organization’s strategic communications.
“Our mission at Mozilla is more dangerous than ever,” Syed wrote in an email to employees, a copy of which was shared with TechCrunch. “We find ourselves in a relentless onslaught of change in the technology world (and the wider world), and the idea of putting people before profit seems increasingly radical.”
“Navigating this turbulent, distracting time requires intense focus — and sometimes we say goodbye to the excellent work that has gotten us this far because it won’t get us to the next peak. Noble goals require tough choices,” Syed wrote.
Master who joined Mozilla Foundation in Februarypreviously served as CEO at data journalism and investigative news site The Markup.
Updated with comment from Mozilla.
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