Major Bay Area Tech Firm Plans To Lay Off Thousands

MENLO PARK, CA — Meta is expected to cut about 3,600 employees in the coming weeks based on performance, according to reports.

“This is going to be an intense year, and I want to make sure we have the best people on our teams,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in an internal memo obtained by CNBC.

“I’ve decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low performers faster. We typically manage out people who aren’t meeting expectations over the course of a year, but now we’re going to do more extensive performance-based cuts during this cycle, with the intention of back filling these roles in 2025.”

Those affected in the U.S. will be notified Feb. 10 and workers who are cut will receive severance, according to the memo.

The Menlo Park-based company anticipates its headcount will be down 10 percent at the end of its current performance cycle because of an additional 5 percent reduction due to attrition in 2024, Bloomberg reported.

The cuts follow news last week that Meta would end its third-party fact-checking and diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and that it would scale back policies on hate speech and abuse.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.