Meta 5% to cut jobs and shed “underperformers quickly”.

Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is preparing to cut 5% of its global workforce as the company cuts “low performers at a rapid pace”.

In a memo to employees, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the decision to accelerate the company’s normal performance-based cuts was in anticipation of a “tough year.”

The company said it will “refill” the roles in 2025.

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

According to Mr. Zuckerberg’s memo, employees in the US will know on February 10. Those outside the US will be notified “later”.

“This is going to be a tough 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 weed out the underperformers quickly.”

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

Performance-based layoffs are common in corporate America. At Meta, they are typically revealed within a year, Mr. Zuckerberg said, but the process is being accelerated this year.

About 3,600 people could be affected by this move. He said they would be given a “generous farewell.”

Meta’s last major cuts will be in 2023, when the company arrives Cut about 10,000 places Mr Zuckerberg is on a cost-cutting drive after declaring a “year of efficiency”. He Cut about 11,000 roles by 2022.

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

In a recent podcast with Joe Rogan, Mr. Zuckerberg said he discussed taking up martial arts because he thought companies needed more “man power,” which he said he enjoyed because he felt he could express himself more fully than in his corporate role.

“When you’re running a company, people don’t want to see you being this aggressive and crushing the people I’m competing with,” he said. “But not like when you fight.”

“In some ways, I think when people see me competing in the sport, they’re like, oh no, that’s the real mark.”