Mozilla scaling back VPN, relay and more as it downsizes, lays off 60 workers

Mozilla scaling back VPN, relay and more as it downsizes, lays off 60 workers

After Mitchell Baker’s second resignation as CEO, and under the leadership of new interim CEO Laura Chambers, Mozilla has revealed significant changes to its business that will affect both workers and products.

A new TechCrunch report claims Mozilla plans to scale back investments in various products and close certain services, which is set to affect around 60 workers.

Some of the standalone consumer products affected by reduced investments will include VPN, Relay and Online Footprint Scrubber, with Mozilla setting its sights on more profitable areas of the business.

Mozilla announces job cuts and more

Hubs, the 3D virtual world launched in 2018, is also set to shut down due to a changing market landscape for this particular vertical. According to an internal memo shared by TechCrunch, Mozilla said: “We will wind down the service and communicate a graceful exit plan to customers.”

The organization has also set out a “strategic correction” move for mozilla.social, its venture into the Mastodon-based social media space, after investing too heavily, too quickly.

The layoffs, which are primarily the result of role consolidation in the People department, are expected to affect around 60 workers, according to previous reporting by Bloomberg. Though a small number, the redundancies will reduce the organization’s headcount by a fairly sizeable 5%.

Moreover, Mozilla intends to concentrate on bringing “trustworthy AI into Firefox,” its privacy-focused browser. This streamlining effort suggests that Firefox will once again return to the forefront of Mozilla’s focus, during a time when browsers are facing scrutiny over trackers, cookies, and APIs.

A Mozilla spokesperson told TechRadar Pro in an email:

“We’re scaling back investment in some product areas in order to focus on the ones 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.

The 60 roles equal approximately 5% of the workforce, with the majority of positions being eliminated from the product organization.

We intend to re-prioritize resources towards products like Firefox Mobile and AI, where there’s a significant opportunity to grow and establish a better model for the industry.”

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