Target will cut 5% of jobs and eliminate “low performers faster”

Meta, owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is preparing to cut around 5% of its global workforce as the company looks to fire “low-performing employees faster.”

In a memo to staff, boss Mark Zuckerberg said he had made the decision to accelerate regular cuts based on the company’s performance in anticipation of a “busy year.”

He said the company would “replace” the positions later in 2025.

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

Affected US workers will know by February 10, according to 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 for performance management and move out low-performing employees faster.”

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

Performance-based job cuts are common in corporate America. At Meta, they would normally be developed over the course of a year, Zuckerberg said, but the process is speeding up this year.

Some 3,600 people could be affected by this measure. They will receive “generous compensation,” he said.

The last big cuts at Meta occurred in 2023, when the company cut around 10,000 positions in a cost-cutting drive after Zuckerberg declared it the “year of efficiency.” He cut around 11,000 positions in 2022.

Zuckerberg also appears to be reviewing his own public image.

In a recent podcast with Joe Rogan, Zuckerberg said he thought companies needed more “masculine energy” and talked about possibly taking up martial arts, which he said he enjoyed because he felt he could express himself more fully than in his corporate role.

“When you run a company, people typically don’t want to see you as this ruthless person who thinks I’m going to crush the people I compete with,” he said. “But when you’re fighting, it’s like no.”

“I think in a way, when people see me competing in this sport, they say oh no, ‘That’s the real Mark.'”