Facebook Parent Meta Platforms To Lay Off 5% Of Staff; CEO Mark Zuckerberg Warns Of “Intense” Year Ahead

deadline.com:

Facebook and Instagram parent Meta Platforms plans to lay off about 5% of its workforce, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg warning of an “intense” year ahead.

Meta had roughly 72,000 people, so a 5% reduction would mean a loss of 3,600 jobs. Zuckerberg communicated his plans in a note posted to employees, which was first reported by Bloomberg.

A Meta rep confirmed details of the post to Deadline. “I’ve decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low-performers faster,” the exec wrote. “We typically manage out people who aren’t meeting expectations over the course of a year,” Zuckerberg also wrote, “but now we’re going to do more extensive performance-based cuts during this cycle.” Workers affected by the layoffs will be notified in February.

The year ahead will be “intense,” Zuckerberg predicted, given the company’s efforts in AI, smart glasses and its mainstay social media business.