San Francisco, January 15: Meta layoffs will affect 5% of the workforce, as the company announced cutting roles based on performance. Tech billionaire Mark Zuckeberg's company will reportedly hire new roles to fill the vacant roles after the layoffs. Meta operates applications such as Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp and employs thousands of people globally.

According to reports, the 5% staff affected by the latest  Meta layoffs will likely consist of around 3,600 employees. Meta has a global workforce of 72,000 people, and it is yet to be announced how the job cuts would affect people in different roles worldwide. Wall Street Layoffs Coming: Over 2,00,000 Jobs at Risk As AI, GenAI Set To Transform Financial Sector of United States, Says Report.

Mark Zuckerberg recently sent a memo to the Meta staff in which he mentioned that he decided to speed up the performance-based job cuts amid the anticipation that 2025 would be an "intense year"." He reportedly said, "I've decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low-performers faster". 

Zuckerberg said  Meta usually managed to lay off employees who did not meet expectations; however, now the firm would make more "extensive performance-based cuts" during the cycle. Meta has previously laid off thousands of employees amid rising competition in fields like artificial intelligence and social media. 

Meta COE said that the employees to be affected by the job cuts decision would know by February 10, 2025, in the memo circulated to the workforce. He also reportedly added that workers outside the United States would know if they were affected later. He informed the staff that 2025 would be an intense year, and he wanted to ensure that Meta had the best people on board. Microsoft Layoffs: No Plans To Lay Off Employees in India, Says Company’s South Asia Head Amid Reports of Job Cuts Across Departments Globally.

Meta recently announced the end of the fact-checking program for its social platforms, cutting ties with its media partners. The move affected several media and news companies as the company decided not to fund the operations to check facts on social media platforms. Meta has a history of large-scale layoffs, like in 2023, when it cut around 10,000 roles and 11,000 in 2022.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 15, 2025 08:58 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).