Meta (META.US) starts to lay off "underperforming" employees and turns to recruiting AI talents.

On Monday, Meta (META.US) began notifying employees of layoffs and initiated a plan to dismiss thousands of people. The company is targeting "underperforming" employees and looking for new talent to lead in artificial intelligence competitions. According to sources, Meta informed sacked employees via email. The severance package offered to U.S. employees includes 16 weeks of pay, as well as 2 weeks' salary for each additional year of service. These sources say that eligible employees will still receive bonuses and stock rewards as part of an upcoming reward cycle later this month. GMTEight reported in mid-January that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees that Meta will lay off 5%, or 3,600 people, focusing on those who are "not meeting expectations." Zuckerberg stated last month that affected U.S. employees will receive notifications on February 10th, while international employees will be informed later. In another message to management, Zuckerberg stated that the layoffs will help the company hire "the best talent." In recent years, Meta has been laying off employees. The company laid off thousands of employees in 2022 and 2023 as part of efforts to improve efficiency. The latest round of layoffs is expected to be completed before the end of the performance period ending in February. Currently, Meta is trying to defeat competitors such as OpenAI and DeepSeek in a rapidly growing artificial intelligence competition. Zuckerberg told investors at the end of January that Meta expects to invest billions in artificial intelligence infrastructure. The California-based company is applying artificial intelligence to its applications and business units, from social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook to VR glasses.