Key Takeaways
- Meta is weighing layoffs that could affect 20% of staff — around 16,000 jobs, according to a new report.
- The cuts are meant to offset surging costs from massive AI infrastructure investments.
- No final timeline or exact number of layoffs has been set, but senior leaders have been told to prepare.
Meta is reportedly planning widespread layoffs that could impact at least 20% of the company, three sources familiar with the issue recently told Reuters. The move comes as Meta tries to offset expensive bets on AI and set itself up for more workplace efficiency brought on by the technology.
The sources mentioned that Meta has not set a date for the layoffs. However, top Meta executives have indicated that layoffs are coming to other senior management and instructed them to start making plans to keep functioning with a shrunken workforce, per Reuters.
For now, Meta is publicly downplaying the reports. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone told Reuters that “this is speculative reporting about theoretical approaches.”
Payroll is one of Meta’s highest recurring costs. Cutting about 20% of staff would meaningfully lower ongoing salary, benefits and stock-based compensation expenses, according to Newsday. Meta employed about 79,000 workers as of December 31, so a layoff of 20% would impact roughly 16,000 workers. The job cuts would be the most significant round of layoffs since a restructuring in late 2022 and early 2023 that saw over 21,000 employees let go in two waves.
Meta predicts that its capital expenditures will soar to as much as $135 billion in 2026, almost double the $72 billion the company spent the previous year. The company has earmarked most of that money for AI infrastructure: new data centers, Nvidia Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) and custom chips.
Executives are under pressure to show they can afford this investment, so they are looking to offset part of the AI bill with cuts elsewhere — such as payroll. In that sense, the planned layoffs are a financing mechanism for AI, a way to free up billions in operating expenses, per Reuters.
Meanwhile, Meta has made pricey investments in talent. In June 2025, CEO Mark Zuckerberg made a $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI, bringing its founder, Alexandr Wang, to Meta as Chief AI Officer.
In a January earnings call, Zuckerberg argued that advances in AI will allow Meta to run a leaner operation.
“We’re starting to see projects that used to require big teams now be accomplished by a single very talented person,” he said on the call. “I want to make sure that as many of these very talented people as possible choose Meta as the place that they can make the greatest impact.”
Other companies cutting jobs due to AI
Meta isn’t the only tech giant reducing its workforce in the wake of AI. In January, Amazon cut 16,000 jobs as it deepened its investments in AI. The restructuring aimed to “reduce layers, increase ownership and remove bureaucracy,” according to a memo sent to staff by Amazon’s senior vice president of people experience, Beth Galetti. Amazon announced a first round of layoffs in October, affecting about 14,000 roles, bringing its total reductions to about 30,000 positions, or nearly 10% of its corporate workforce.
Earlier this month, fintech company Block laid off 4,000 employees from its workforce of nearly 10,000. Block CEO Jack Dorsey wrote in a letter to shareholders that the job cuts were due to advances in AI productivity.
Key Takeaways
- Meta is weighing layoffs that could affect 20% of staff — around 16,000 jobs, according to a new report.
- The cuts are meant to offset surging costs from massive AI infrastructure investments.
- No final timeline or exact number of layoffs has been set, but senior leaders have been told to prepare.
Meta is reportedly planning widespread layoffs that could impact at least 20% of the company, three sources familiar with the issue recently told Reuters. The move comes as Meta tries to offset expensive bets on AI and set itself up for more workplace efficiency brought on by the technology.
The sources mentioned that Meta has not set a date for the layoffs. However, top Meta executives have indicated that layoffs are coming to other senior management and instructed them to start making plans to keep functioning with a shrunken workforce, per Reuters.
