Meta Platforms (META-3.06%) is reportedly planning on cutting 5% of its workforce as the technology giant looks to continue CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s dramatic overhaul.
The headcount reductions will target low-performing workers, with plans to hire replacement staff later in 2025, according to Bloomberg News, citing a message sent to company managers. Some 3,600 people will likely be affected by the cuts.
In a memo to staff posted on Meta’s internal forum, Workplace, Zuckerberg said he’s decided to “raise the bar” on performance management, Business Insider reported. Impacted workers will be notified next month, or later if they live outside the U.S. The CEO said that not all workers who failed to meet expectations for Meta’s last quarter will be let go, but those who do will receive “generous severance.”
“Meta is working on building some of the most important technologies in the world — AI, glasses as the next computing platform, and the future of social media,” Zuckerberg said in the memo. “This is going to be an intense year, and I want to make sure we have the best people on our teams.”
As part of that, Meta expects to reach 10% of “non-regrettable” attrition by the end of the current performance cycle, Bloomberg reports. That includes about 5% of non-regrettable attrition from 2024. A Meta spokesperson confirmed the plans.
The company’s stock sank by more than 2% on the news. Shares are still up by more than 61% over the last 12 months.
The layoffs followed at least two rounds in 2024 that affected Meta’s employees. Last January, fewer than 50 employees at Messenger were laid off. In October, layoffs hit teams at WhatsApp, Instagram, and Reality Labs; the latter division was also hit with a small number of cuts over the summer.
Meta has laid off at least 20,000 employees over the last few years, including 11,000 people in 2022 and 10,000 in 2023, which Zuckerberg declared was the company’s “year of efficiency.” About 72,000 people are currently employed by the Menlo Park, California-based company.
The latest cuts come after Zuckerberg announced a slew of changes at his tech giant as he looks to court the upcoming Trump administration. That includes adding Dana White, the CEO of Ultimate Fighting Championship, to Meta’s board, scrapping Meta’s fact-checking practices in favor of an Elon Musk-inspired crowd-sourced solution, and rolling back its moderation policies.
Meta also scrapped its chief diversity officer position, ended diversity hiring goals, and said it would not prioritize minority-owned vendors. Employees at the tech company took to Workplace to protest the changes, with some comments about White’s appointment being deleted by Meta, according to 404 Media.
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