February 8, 2025 – According to a report by Reuters, internal memos reveal that Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, is planning a company-wide layoff expected to take place next week, while simultaneously ramping up its recruitment of machine learning engineers.
The memo states that layoff notices will be issued starting at 5 a.m. local time on Monday in most countries, including the United States. Janelle Gale, Meta’s HR head, mentioned in the memo that due to local regulatory constraints, employees in Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands will be exempt from this layoff. Additionally, staff in over a dozen other European, Asian, and African countries will receive notices between February 11th and February 18th.
As of press time, a Meta spokesperson declined to comment on the memo’s contents. Last month, the company confirmed plans to lay off approximately 5% of its “lowest-performing” employees and fill some of those positions. Gale referred to this layoff as a “performance termination” in the memo.
Unlike previous company-wide layoffs, Meta intends to keep its offices open on Monday and will not provide further updates on the specifics of the layoff decisions.
Meanwhile, in a separate memo released on Friday, Peng Fan, Vice President of Monetization Engineering, urged employees to assist in expediting the recruitment process for machine learning engineers and other “business-critical” engineering positions. This recruitment drive is scheduled between February 11th and March 13th.
“Thank you, everyone, for continuously supporting us in achieving our accelerated hiring goals, helping the company better align with our 2025 priorities,” Fan stated in the memo.
