Meta: cuts plus talent buys

Meta is preparing to cut about 8,000 jobs starting May 20 as Mark Zuckerberg pushes the company deeper into artificial intelligence. (finance.yahoo.com) Reuters reported on April 17 that the first round would equal about 10% of Meta’s global workforce, with additional layoffs under discussion for the second half of 2026. Meta declined to comment on the timing or size of the cuts. (finance.yahoo.com) Meta employed nearly 79,000 people as of December 31, 2025, according to its latest annual filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Reuters also reported that executives could adjust the layoff plan depending on how quickly new artificial intelligence tools improve. (sec.gov, finance.yahoo.com) The cuts come after Zuckerberg reorganized Meta’s artificial intelligence work into Meta Superintelligence Labs in June 2025. Bloomberg reported that the unit combined Meta’s large language model, product, and Fundamental AI Research teams under former Scale AI chief Alexandr Wang. (bloomberg.com) That reorganization was paired with a spending plan Zuckerberg said could reach “hundreds of billions” of dollars for artificial intelligence projects and research. Reuters reported that Meta generated more than $200 billion in revenue and about $60 billion in profit last year even as artificial intelligence spending climbed. (bloomberg.com, finance.yahoo.com) Meta has also kept buying talent in small, targeted batches instead of only hiring through normal recruiting. Bloomberg reported in March that Meta hired the founders and team of Dreamer, an artificial intelligence agent startup, into Meta Superintelligence Labs while leaving Dreamer as a separate legal entity. (bloomberg.com) Thinking Machines Lab sits in the same talent market Meta is chasing. Bloomberg reported in March that Nvidia invested in the startup founded by former OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati and agreed to supply chips for its model training. (bloomberg.com) Meta has run this playbook before, but under different pressure. Reuters said the company’s last restructuring of similar scale came in late 2022 and early 2023, when Meta eliminated about 21,000 jobs during its “year of efficiency.” (finance.yahoo.com) This time, the company is cutting from a position of profit while concentrating money on compute, researchers, and smaller acqui-hires tied to artificial intelligence. The next marker is May 20, when employees are expected to learn who stays for Meta’s AI buildout and who does not. (finance.yahoo.com, bloomberg.com)