Facebook 'looks to quietly cull 12,000 underperforming workers'

Facebook ‘looks to quietly cull 12,000 underperforming workers’ – 15% of its staff – in WEEKS: Mark Zuckerberg freezes hiring and shuts NYC office

  • Mark Zuckerberg and other leaders at Facebook asked managers last week to review workers and notify if any ‘need support’, reports say
  • Meta, the parent company to Facebook, will  be giving up its New York office at 225 Park Avenue, a spokesperson confirmed
  • Plans to expand office space at 770 Broadway have been halted
  • Facebook CEO hosted a Q&A session with employees last week indicating that a hiring freeze which has been in place since May will remain

Mark Zuckerberg is planning to lay off up to 12,000 underperforming Facebook workers after initiating a review process last week in which managers were asked to label workers that ‘need support’, reports say.

This comes just days after Zuckerberg announced a freeze to hiring and warned of plans to ‘steadily reduce headcount growth’ for the first time in the history of the company.

The Facebook CEO said during a Q&A with employees last week that the company would extend a hiring freeze that has been in place since May. During that meeting he said that steps would be taken to reduce its costs.

Zuckerberg has suffered significant losses to his personal fortune which has dropped by almost a third in a year.

Mark Zuckerberg is planning to lay off up to 12,000 underperforming Facebook workers after initiating a review process last week in which managers were asked to label workers that ‘need support’, reports say

Meta will end its lease of the 200,000 square foot office space at 225 Park Avenue in the Flatiron district of Manhattan, anonymous sources told Bloomberg

The 225 Park Avenue office had served as a ‘great bridge’ to a new space in Hudson Yards which was planned to open soon

Meta will also be closing one of its New York offices as part of a plan to reduce growth and cut costs by at least 10 percent in the coming months, Bloomberg reported.

The office had served as a ‘great bridge’ to a new space in Hudson Yards which was planned to open soon, but has been delayed.

‘Two twenty-five Park Avenue South has served as a great bridge space to get us to our new offices at Hudson Yards and Farley,’ said Meta Spokesperson Jamila Reeves in an email statement.

A 300,000 square foot expansion of the company’s 770 Broadway office planned earlier this year but those plans were abandoned this summer, Bloomberg reported


Facebook agreed to lease 730,000 square feet in the historic Farley Building opposite Pennsylvania Station. ‘Two twenty-five Park Avenue South has served as a great bridge space to get us to our new offices at Hudson Yards and Farley,’ said Meta Spokesperson Jamila Reeves in an email statement

The company will end its lease of the 200,000 square foot office space at 225 Park Avenue in the Flatiron district of Manhattan, anonymous sources told Bloomberg.

The closure comes as Meta have been combining New York office spaces and in advance of plans for its enormous 1.5 million square foot Hudson Yards office.

It is part of a shift in the company’s approach to office space in New York and is the latest in a series of changes that signal intentions to scale down and decelerate growth in the city.

In the summer it backed out of its plans to expand 770 Broadway offices by 300,000, reported Bloomberg. 

Meta currently has four offices in New York City at 770 Broadway, 225 Park Avenue, the Farley Building and Hudson Yards.

With expansion of the office at 770 Broadway paused and departure from 225 Park Avenue to take place soon the company will be focusing on Hudson Yards and the Farley Building.

New York City has faced devastating financial consequences of remote work as people have continued working from home even as the pandemic began to subside. 

A recent study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that the value of office buildings dropped by nearly 45 percent in 2020 and are expected to remain around 39 percent below pre-pandemic levels.

The study suggests that New York will be responsible for 10 percent of almost $456billion of value lost in office spaces across the US.  

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