Snap cuts 1,000 jobs

Snap is cutting about 1,000 jobs, or 16% of its full-time workforce, as Chief Executive Officer Evan Spiegel says artificial intelligence now lets smaller teams do more. (snap.com) Spiegel told employees on April 15 that Snap will also close more than 300 open roles and ask North America staff to work from home that day while notifications go out. U.S.-based employees who are laid off will get four months of severance, healthcare coverage, equity vesting, and career transition support, the company said. (snap.com) Snap said the cuts should lower its annualized cost base by more than $500 million by the second half of 2026 and create what Spiegel called a clearer path to net-income profitability. The company had about 5,261 full-time employees at the end of December 2025, so the reduction is one of its largest recent workforce moves. (snap.com) (techcrunch.com) The company tied the decision directly to artificial intelligence in unusually explicit terms. Spiegel said Snap has already seen small teams use artificial intelligence tools to cut repetitive work and speed up projects tied to Snapchat+, advertising systems, and its lightweight Snap Lite app. (snap.com) Snap gave investors a more detailed version of that pitch on Wednesday. It said artificial intelligence agents now generate more than 65% of new code and answer more than 1 million internal queries a month, part of a plan to shift work to smaller, more focused teams. (cnbc.com) The cuts land as Snap tries to convince Wall Street it can grow without spending like a larger rival. Reuters reported that Snap expects first-quarter revenue to rise about 12% to roughly $1.53 billion, broadly in line with Wall Street estimates compiled by London Stock Exchange Group. (usnews.com) Pressure had also been building from outside shareholders. On March 31, activist investor Irenic Capital Management, which said it has an economic interest in about 2.5% of Snap’s Class A shares, urged Spiegel to cut costs, sharpen the business, and pursue changes it said could lift the company’s value sharply. (businesswire.com) (cnbc.com) Irenic had specifically argued that Snap could remove about 1,000 roles, while some analysts warned that cutting headcount does not settle the larger question of whether Snap can build a stronger business against bigger platforms. Russ Mould of AJ Bell told Reuters that lower costs may please shareholders in the near term, but Snap still has to prove it can turn its position into durable profits and cash flow. (cnbc.com) (usnews.com) For now, Snap is making the case that artificial intelligence is not just a product story but an operating model. The immediate test is whether a company that once hired for growth can now hit its numbers with fewer people. (snap.com) (cnbc.com)