Meta to cut 5% of jobs and eliminate “low-performing employees” more quickly

Meta, owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is preparing to cut around 5% of its global workforce, as the company seeks to weed out “low-performing employees” more quickly.

In a memo to staff, boss Mark Zuckerberg said he had made the decision to accelerate regular cuts based on the company’s performance in anticipation of an “intense year”.

He said the company would “fill” the positions later in 2025.

The company, which employs about 72,000 people worldwide, did not specify how the reductions would be distributed around the world.

In the United States, affected workers will know by February 10, according to Mr. Zuckerberg’s memo. Those outside the United States will be informed “later.”

“This is going to be an intense year and I want to make sure we have the best people on our teams,” he wrote.

“I decided to raise the bar on performance management and weed out poor performers more quickly.”

The move follows other major decisions made by Mr. Zuckerberg, including the decision to end the company’s fact-checking and diversity programs.

Performance-based job cuts are common in corporate America. At Meta, they would normally take place over the course of a year, Mr. Zuckerberg said, but the process is accelerating this year.

Around 3,600 people could be affected by this measure. They will receive “generous severance packages,” he said.

The last big discounts at Meta took place in 2023, when the company eliminate around 10,000 positions as part of a cost-cutting drive after Mr Zuckerberg declared it the “year of efficiency”. He eliminate around 11,000 positions in 2022.

Mr. Zuckerberg also appears to be renovating his own public image.

In a recent podcast with Joe Rogan, Mr. Zuckerberg said he believed businesses needed more “masculine energy” and discussed taking up martial arts, which he said he enjoyed because that he felt he could express himself more fully than in his corporate role.

“When you’re running a business, people generally don’t want to see you as this ruthless person who says I’m going to crush the people I’m competing with,” he said. “But when you fight, it’s like no.”

“I think in a way, when people see me compete in this sport, they’re like ‘oh no, ‘That’s the real Mark.’