Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is planning layoffs. The reductions are expected to cover up to 5 percent of the total number of employees, i.e. approximately 3,600 people. As the company explains, people with “lower results” may feel most at risk.
In a message sent to employees, Mark Zuckerberg explained that the company will fill the vacancies caused by layoffs in 2025.
Weaker employees are to be dismissed more quickly
The company did not inform in which domestic branches of the company the layoffs would be carried out. Meta employs 72,000 people worldwide.
Employees from USA they will receive notice of termination by February 10. The layoff process will take longer in other countries, although no specific deadlines have been given in this case. The company only informed that people employed outside the United States would learn about possible layoffs “later.”
Mark Zuckerberg argued that he “wants to make sure that the best will remain in the company's teams, because the company is facing an intense year.” “I decided to raise the bar and remove poor performers faster,” he added.
Dismissal of people who achieve unsatisfactory results is commonly practiced in American corporations. Usually, the entire process took a year at Meta, but now it is to be accelerated, as Zuckerberg emphasized.
The reductions may cover up to 3,600 people, or 5%. total number of employees. Zuckerberg noted that as compensation, the laid-off people will receive “generous severance pay.”
The last major layoffs at Meta were carried out in 2023. The job cuts affected 10,000 positions. In 2022, the company laid off 11,000 people.
Zuckerberg gives up on verifiers
Last week, Mark Zuckerberg announced major changes to the policies of Facebook and Instagram. This includes abandoning the content verification program aimed at combating disinformation. The billionaire also said that Meta will work with the Trump administration “to push back against governments around the world that are attacking American companies and pushing for more censorship.”
Main photo source: Bonnie Cash/EPA/PAP