After hopping into a major shift towards right-wing policies ahead of newly-elected US President Trump's inauguration, Mark Zuckerberg's next plan is to lose "low performers" by laying off 5% of its workforce.
Zuckerberg explained that Meta will now focus on performance while ensuring the company is well-positioned to undertake an "intense year," the CEO predicts. In a memo to staff, the Meta CEO stated that the company will accelerate its regular process of job cuts based on performance, which normally takes a whole year, to remove "low performers" more quickly.
As Meta has around 72,000 employees worldwide, the layoffs are expected to impact around 3,600 workers, per BBC. Zuckerberg said that the affected workers in the United States will be informed by February 10, 2025, while those outside the US will be informed later. These employees will receive "generous severance," according to Zuckerberg. Meta plans to replace the roles later in 2025, even though it is cutting them now, in order to maintain the strength of its workforce going forward.
The company's approach to these layoffs marks a shift, as Meta is now choosing to make cuts quicker than before. This follows Meta's earlier cuts of 10,000 positions in 2023 and 11,000 in 2022. While job cuts based on performance are not uncommon in corporate America, the speed at which this is happening speaks to the urgency companies feel to remain competitive in the tech industry.
Meta Shifts Operations to Woo Trump
Besides job cuts, Zuckerberg is also ramping up changes in the internal operations of Meta, which have been controversial within the company. Prior to ending fact-checkers, VCPost reported that Meta has added right-winger UFC Founder, Dana White, to its board.
His strategy on public opinion has also changed. In one of his latest podcasts, he expressed his conviction that leadership needed "masculine energy." He talked about martial arts as one of his favorite hobbies, and how it helped him feel different from when he was being corporate.
Critics remarked that it is a new direction for Zuckerberg, to be remade as a business figure and public image, to fit within Trump's second term.
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