Meta will cut 5% of jobs and get rid of “low performers faster.”

Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is preparing to cut around 5% of its global workforce, as the company looks to weed out “low performers faster”.

In a memo to employees, Chairman Mark Zuckerberg said he had made the decision to accelerate the company's regular performance-based cutbacks in anticipation of a “condensed year.”

The company will “bring back” the roles later in 2025, he said.

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

Affected workers in the US will be known by February 10, according to Zuckerberg's memo. Those outside the United States will be notified “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 up the ante on performance management and get rid of low performers faster.”

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

Performance-based job cuts are common in American companies. At Meta, these things typically unfold over the course of a year, Zuckerberg said, but the process is being accelerated this year.

Nearly 3,600 people could be affected by the move. He said they would receive a “generous reward.”

Meta's last big cut came in 2023, when the company… Cut about 10,000 jobs In a cost-cutting drive after Zuckerberg declared it a “year of efficiency.” He – she About 11,000 jobs will be eliminated in 2022.

Zuckerberg appears to be working on repairing his public image.

In a recent podcast with Joe Rogan, Zuckerberg said he believes companies need more “masculine energy” and discussed taking up martial arts, which he said he enjoyed because he felt he could fully express himself, more so than in his role at the company.

“When you're running a company, people don't usually want to see you as this ruthless person who looks like I'm going to crush the people I'm competing with,” he said. “But when you fight, it's not.”

“I think in some ways when people see me competing in this sport, they say: ‘That’s the real Mark.’”