Meta will cut 5 percent of jobs and “quickly eliminate low performers.”

Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is preparing to cut around 5 percent of its global workforce, as the company prepares to “rapidly shed low performers”.

In a memo to staff, boss Mark Zuckerberg said he had decided to accelerate the firm’s regular performance-based cuts in anticipation of a “tough year.”

The company will “backfill” the roles later in 2025, he said.

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

Affected workers in the US will know by February 10, according to Mr Zuckerberg’s memo. Those outside the US will be notified “later.”

“It’s going to be an intense year, and I want to make sure we have the best people on our teams,” he wrote.

“I have decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low performers faster.”

The move comes after other big decisions by Mr. Zuckerberg, including steps to end the company’s fact-checking and diversity programs.

Performance-based job cuts are common in corporate America. At Meta, they would typically come out over the course of a year, Mr. Zuckerberg said, but this year the process is being sped up.

About 3,600 people may be affected by the move. He said he would receive a “generous severance”.

The last major cuts to Meta came in 2023, when the company Cut about 10,000 positions. Mr Zuckerberg called it a “year of performance” after a cost-cutting drive. This Cut about 11,000 roles in 2022..

Mr. Zuckerberg also appears to be changing his public image.

On a recent podcast with Joe Rogen, Mr. Zuckerberg said he thinks companies need more “masculine energy” and discussed taking up martial arts, which he said he learned because Enjoy because they feel they can express themselves more fully than in their corporate role.

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

“I think in some ways when people see me compete in a game they’re like oh no, ‘That’s the real Mark.'”