Firefox maker Mozilla to cut 250 jobs

Mozilla, the nonprofit maker of the Firefox browser, told employees Tuesday that it is cutting 250 jobs, roughly a quarter of its workforce.

The big picture: Mozilla has been trying to get more of its revenue from subscription products, but said in an internal email that its pre-pandemic business plan is no longer viable.

Details: "We have talked about the need for change — including the likelihood of layoffs — since the spring," CEO Mitchell Baker said in the staff memo. "Today these changes become real."

• Mozilla is closing its operations in Taiwan as part of the restructuring.

The big picture: Baker said the company is trying to move away from only products that are free, given the trade-offs that come with relying on advertising, either directly or indirectly. (Mozilla has historically gotten much of its revenue from partners like Google, which pays to be the default search engine.)

• "Recognizing that the old model where everything was free has consequences, means we must explore a range of different business opportunities and alternate value exchanges," Baker said.
• The company laid off about 70 employees in January, per TechCrunch.