Meta's May 20 Layoffs

Meta is preparing another large round of layoffs to begin May 20 as it shifts more of the company toward artificial intelligence work. (foxbusiness.com) Fox Business reported the cuts could affect about 8,000 employees, or roughly 10% of Meta’s workforce. Reuters reported in March that Meta was weighing reductions of 20% or more, though it said the scale and timing were not final at that point. (foxbusiness.com, cnbc.com) The reported targets include recruiting, sales, global operations and Reality Labs, the division that builds virtual reality headsets, augmented reality products and smart glasses. Meta already cut several hundred jobs across some of those same groups on March 25. (cnbc.com, thenextweb.com) The cuts follow a sharp rise in Meta’s spending plans for artificial intelligence infrastructure, which includes the data centers and chips used to train and run large AI models. CNBC reported in March that Meta’s 2026 artificial intelligence-related costs could reach as much as $135 billion. (cnbc.com) Meta’s latest earnings showed why Reality Labs remains exposed. The unit posted a $6.02 billion operating loss on $955 million in fourth-quarter 2025 sales, pushing total operating losses since late 2020 to nearly $80 billion. (cnbc.com) At the same time, Meta’s core business is still growing. The company reported $59.89 billion in fourth-quarter 2025 revenue and gave stronger-than-expected sales guidance for early 2026, sending the stock up in after-hours trading on January 28. (cnbc.com) That mix — strong ad revenue and rising AI costs — has shaped Meta’s staffing moves since its earlier retrenchment. The company cut 11,000 jobs in November 2022 and announced another 10,000 cuts in March 2023 after Mark Zuckerberg declared 2023 the “year of efficiency.” (cnbc.com, cnbc.com) Meta has said the recent cuts are part of regular restructuring rather than a single companywide event. “Teams across Meta regularly restructure or implement changes to ensure they’re in the best position to achieve their goals,” a spokesperson said in March. (cnbc.com) California filings show some Bay Area layoffs are already scheduled for late May, including 124 jobs in Burlingame on May 22 and 74 in Sunnyvale on May 29. If the broader May 20 plan proceeds, those state notices suggest the reductions will land in stages rather than all at once. (foxbusiness.com)