Meta cuts 5% of jobs to lose ‘lowest performers’

UNITED KINGDOM: Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is preparing to cut about 5% of its global workforce, as the company looks to drop “low performers faster”.

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

He said the company would “backfill” the roles later in 2025.

The company, which employs about 72,000 people globally, did not say how the cuts would be distributed around the world.

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Workers in the US who are affected will know by 10 February, according to Mr Zuckerberg’s memo. Those outside the US 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’ve decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low performers faster.”

The move comes on the heels of other big decisions by Mr Zuckerberg, including moves to end the company’s fact-checking and diversity programmes.

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