• News

Meta to layoff around 3,600 in 'performance-based cuts'

The layoffs will remove 5 percent of Meta's workforce as an effort to 'move out low performers faster' in preparation for 'an intense year,' said CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

TJ Denzer

January 14, 2025 4:45 PM

Image via Matt McClain/Getty Images

1

Meta, formerly known as Facebook, has signaled that it intends to lay off around 3,600 employees, or about 5 percent of its workforce, in the coming weeks. According to an internal statement from CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the company will be doing performance-based reviews in an effort to “move out low performers” faster.

Word of these layoffs came from an internal message from Mark Zuckerberg, as shared by Bloomberg and Wall Street Journal. According to Mark Zuckerberg, the performance reviews will be carried out in the weeks ahead. US workers will be notified if they’ve been laid off on February 10, and workers outside the US will be notified at a later date.

“I’ve decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low-performers faster,” Zuckerberg said in the message. “We typically manage out people who aren’t meeting expectations over the course of a year, but now we’re going to do more extensive performance-based cuts during this cycle.”

Among other things in the memo, Zuckerberg shared that the team is preparing for an “intense year” and he wants to the company to be at its strongest, as well as being able to bring new workers in. This has also followed a major shift in moderation at Facebook, in which offensive language, slurs, and other previously moderated content will now be allowed to exist on the platform. Fact checking moderation on the website was also weakened. The company is still doing well in quarterly results, having beaten revenue expectations with a final tally of $40.69 billion in Q3 2024, but it seems that’s just not enough to allow 5 percent of the company to keep their jobs.

As we watch the shift in social media and tech in the weeks ahead, stay tuned for more Meta news and more here at Shacknews.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on BlueSky @JohnnyChugs.