Snap cuts 1,000 jobs
Snap confirmed it is cutting about 1,000 roles—roughly 16% of its workforce—and closing 300 open positions, with CEO Evan Spiegel citing AI and a shift toward faster profitability. (variety.com)
Snap is cutting about 1,000 jobs, or 16% of its full-time workforce, in its biggest layoff since 2022. (newsroom.snap.com) Chief Executive Officer Evan Spiegel told employees on Wednesday, April 15, that Snap is also closing more than 300 open roles. He said the cuts should lower Snap’s annualized cost base by more than $500 million by the second half of 2026. (newsroom.snap.com) Snap said artificial intelligence now lets smaller teams “reduce repetitive work” and move faster on products including Snapchat+, its ad platform, and Snap Lite, the company’s lower-bandwidth app. Snap told investors that artificial intelligence agents already generate more than 65% of its new code and answer more than 1 million queries a month. (newsroom.snap.com) (cnbc.com) The cuts land after months of pressure to show steadier profits at a company that still depends heavily on digital advertising. Snap said in its latest annual report that it had 5,261 full-time employees at the end of 2025, 474 million daily active users, $5.9 billion in 2025 revenue, and a net loss narrowed to $460 million. (abcnews.go.com) An activist investor, Irenic Capital Management, disclosed an economic interest of about 2.5% in Snap and urged the company to cut costs and review its business lines. Reuters reported that Irenic also pressed Snap over its augmented reality glasses effort, which it said had consumed more than $3.5 billion in investment and about $500 million a year in losses. (usnews.com) Snap’s shares rose about 7% after the announcement, and Reuters said the stock had been down about 31% so far in 2026 before Wednesday’s move. The company also forecast first-quarter revenue of about $1.53 billion, up roughly 12% from a year earlier. (cnbc.com) (usnews.com) This is Snap’s fourth notable round of cuts in four years. The company cut 20% of staff in 2022, 3% in late 2023, and 10% in 2024, according to The Associated Press. (abcnews.go.com) For affected United States employees, Snap said it will provide four months of severance, healthcare coverage, equity vesting, and career-transition support. Spiegel told North America employees to work from home on Wednesday as the notices went out. (newsroom.snap.com)
