Meta reportedly plans sweeping layoffs
Multiple outlets say Meta is planning cuts of 20% or more of its workforce — potentially 16,000+ jobs — to offset up to $135 billion in AI infrastructure spending as it shifts focus from Metaverse projects to large AI platforms reported and covered.
Reuters said the plan was described by three people familiar with the matter and that no date or final magnitude for the cuts had been set (money.usnews.com). Meta reported a global workforce of 78,865 employees as of Dec. 31, 2025 in its SEC filing, and outlets noted a 20% reduction would translate to roughly 15,773 roles (commonly reported as “more than 15,000”). (sec.gov) In its Q4 results, Meta guided 2026 capital expenditures of $115 billion to $135 billion to support its Meta Superintelligence Labs and related infrastructure buildout, citing that increase as the driver for higher spending next year. (investor.atmeta.com) That 2026 capex range is roughly double Meta’s 2025 capex of $72.22 billion, which the company reported for the full year 2025. (finance.yahoo.com) Bloomberg and other outlets reported Reality Labs had accumulated more than $70 billion in cumulative losses since 2020 and that executives considered cuts of up to 30% for the metaverse/hardware division in late 2025. (newsbytesapp.com) Meta’s CTO Andrew Bosworth told attendees at Davos that the company’s Meta Superintelligence Labs delivered its first high-profile models internally in January 2026, saying those models showed “a lot” of promise. (usnews.com) After the Reuters report, Meta shares rose roughly 3% in early trading, and several outlets observed that a 20% cut would be the company’s largest restructuring since the 2022–2023 rounds that eliminated about 21,000 jobs. (money.usnews.com)
