Following the appointment of a new leader, Mozilla intends to dismiss about 60 employees and change the development strategy. According to public reports, this will affect 5-10% of the staff, which ranges from 500 to 1000 people. This is the fourth wave of mass dismissal for Mozilla, with previous incidents occurring in 2020 and 2017.
One of the areas Mozilla plans to focus on is the integration of AI technologies in Firefox, including the development of recently purchased company FakeSpot. To optimize work processes, teams working on the Pocket service, content preparation, and artificial intelligence will be combined. However, these changes will not impact mdn (Mozilla Developer Network), Mozilla Ads, and fakespot. Additionally, departments involved in legal, financial, operating, and marketing activities will remain unaffected.
While some products such as Mozilla VPN, Anonymous Email, Firefox Relay, Mozilla Monitor Plus Traps, and Mozilla.social will continue to operate, the number of employees working on them will be reduced. The only service being fully closed down is mozilla hubs, a 3D chart system with virtual reality components.
In the case of Mozilla.social, the analysis revealed that the initial resources allocated for its promotion were excessive. Therefore, a smaller team will focus on maintaining experimental capabilities and key functionality. Investments in services related to confidentiality and safety will also be reduced due to high competition and the challenge of offering a unique supply.
Mozilla Hubs is being shut down due to a decline in user interest in virtual 3D worlds, particularly outside of gaming and education.