Meta’s big job cuts
- Meta told employees on Thursday, April 23, that it will cut about 8,000 jobs, or 10% of its workforce, with layoffs starting May 20 and reductions hitting teams across the company. - The memo also cancels hiring for roughly 6,000 open roles, pairing layoffs with a broad hiring freeze as Meta keeps pouring money into artificial intelligence infrastructure and products. - The cuts revive Mark Zuckerberg’s efficiency playbook as Meta races to fund bigger AI bets after earlier layoffs in 2022 and 2023. (cnbc.com)
Meta is cutting about 8,000 jobs, or 10% of its workforce, with layoffs set to begin May 20. (cnbc.com) The plan was laid out in a Thursday memo to employees first reported by Bloomberg and confirmed by CNBC. Meta is also scrapping plans to fill about 6,000 open roles. (cnbc.com) (techcrunch.com) The company tied the cuts to heavier spending on artificial intelligence, as it expands computing capacity and AI products across its apps and business tools. (cnbc.com) (about.fb.com) Meta has been signaling that shift for months. In January, the company said 2026 would be a year when AI advances “intensifies even further” across products and internal work. (about.fb.com) The layoffs also extend a pattern investors and employees have seen before. In November 2022, Mark Zuckerberg said Meta would cut more than 11,000 jobs, and in March 2023 he announced another major restructuring under the “Year of Efficiency.” (about.fb.com 1) (about.fb.com 2) This round appears smaller than those earlier cuts, but it comes after Meta rebuilt headcount. Reports pegged the current reduction at roughly 8,000 employees based on a workforce just under 80,000 at the end of 2025. (forbes.com) (techrepublic.com) Meta has not posted a public newsroom statement about the layoffs on its news site, even as it has continued announcing AI partnerships, data-center projects and new AI products this month. (about.fb.com) The immediate result is a company shrinking payroll while preserving cash for chips, data centers and AI development. The broader result is that Meta is again asking employees to absorb a restructuring while it chases faster growth from AI. (cnbc.com) (about.fb.com)
