Mark Zuckerberg's Meta To Begin Mass Layoffs Next Week, Speeds Up Hiring Of Machine Learning Engineers: Report

Meta Platforms Inc. META is reportedly set to initiate its anticipated company-wide layoffs next week. This move comes as the company is also expediting the hiring of machine learning engineers.

What Happened: Meta has notified employees about upcoming layoffs on Friday, according to an internal memo reviewed by Reuters.

According to the company, affected employees in most countries, including the U.S., will begin receiving notifications at 5 a.m. local time on Monday. However, due to local labor laws, staff in Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands will not be impacted.

Meanwhile, employees across more than a dozen countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa will be informed between Feb. 11 and Feb. 18, the report added.

Meta did not immediately respond to Benzinga’s request for comment.

In January, Meta confirmed plans to cut approximately 5% of its “lowest performers” while backfilling at least some of the positions. Meta's Head of People, Janelle Gale, described the layoffs as “performance terminations.” She also clarified that the cuts would not result in office closures or any further updates on the decisions.

Meta is also speeding up its hiring process for machine learning engineers and other “business-critical” engineering roles. According to a separate memo from Peng Fan, VP of Engineering for Monetization, this hiring push will take place between Feb. 11 and March 13.

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Why It Matters: The upcoming layoffs and the accelerated hiring of machine learning engineers come amid a series of strategic moves by Meta.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently visited the White House to discuss collaboration with the Trump administration in advancing American tech leadership abroad. This was seen as a move to bolster Meta’s standing in the global tech landscape.

However, Meta’s AI position has been a subject of concern. The company’s AI models were deemed to be “clearly behind” those of Chinese AI startup DeepSeek.

"In terms of the tricks and methodology applied by DeepSeek, the leading labs such as OpenAI and Anthropic are fully aware of such methodologies and also employ these but such is not the case of Meta which is clearly behind," the note from Piper Sandler's analyst read.

Despite these challenges, Meta’s stock has been performing well, with a 52% surge over the past year, a 19% increase year-to-date, and a 15% rise in the last month. However, Zuckerberg has been selling millions in stock.

Price Action: According to ratings from 43 analysts, tracked by Benzinga, Meta has a consensus price target of $724.86. The latest ratings, issued by UBS, Citigroup, and Oppenheimer on January 30, 2025, suggest a higher average price target of $788.67. This indicates a potential upside of 10.47% for Meta based on these most recent evaluations.