Meta plans big cuts
- Meta plans to cut roughly 8,000 jobs on May 20 while shifting spending toward AI infrastructure. - The reduction represents about 10% of Meta’s workforce and follows earlier restructuring rounds. - The move signals continued industry layoffs and concentrates hiring competition for high‑value AI engineering talent. (thenextweb.com)
Meta is preparing another large round of layoffs as it pours more money into artificial intelligence infrastructure. (cnbc.com) Reuters reported on March 14 that Meta was weighing cuts that could hit 20% or more of its workforce, citing three people familiar with the plans. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone called that report “speculative reporting about theoretical approaches.” (cnbc.com) Meta said in its latest annual filing that it employed nearly 79,000 people as of December 31, 2025. In its January 28 earnings release, the company said 2026 capital spending would reach $115 billion to $135 billion, driven by investment in “Meta Superintelligence Labs efforts” and core infrastructure. (sec.gov, sec.gov) That sets up the tradeoff inside Meta: fewer employees in some parts of the company, more spending on data centers, chips, and the systems needed to train and run large artificial intelligence models. Zuckerberg said in January he was already seeing projects that once needed “big teams” get done by “a single very talented person.” (cnbc.com, sec.gov) The cuts would extend a restructuring cycle that started in late 2022. Meta laid off 11,000 workers in November 2022, then announced another 10,000 job cuts about four months later during what Zuckerberg called the “year of efficiency.” (cnbc.com) The company has kept trimming even after that reset. CNBC reported on March 25 that Meta cut several hundred employees across Facebook, recruiting, sales, global operations, and Reality Labs, and said some affected workers were offered other roles that could require relocation. (cnbc.com) Meta has not stopped hiring everywhere. Reuters reported that the company has offered some top artificial intelligence researchers pay packages worth hundreds of millions of dollars over four years as it tries to compete with OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. (cnbc.com) The pattern is showing up across tech. Reuters said Amazon confirmed 16,000 cuts in January, and Block cut nearly half its staff in February, with executives at both companies pointing to artificial intelligence and efficiency. (cnbc.com) For Meta employees, the next question is not whether artificial intelligence is the priority. The company’s own filings say 2026 investment will center on AI and infrastructure capacity, and its staffing decisions are moving in the same direction. (sec.gov, sec.gov)
