Meta will cut about 10 per cent of its workforce, or roughly 8,000 employees, next month, the company said in an internal memo on Thursday, marking its largest round of layoffs since 2023 as it ramps up spending on artificial intelligence.
The Facebook and Instagram owner also plans to leave thousands of open roles unfilled, according to the memo, which was first reported by Bloomberg. A Meta spokesperson confirmed the planned job cuts but declined to provide further details.
The layoffs come as Meta sharply increases investment in AI, with spending this year expected to reach about USD 135 billion, roughly equal to what it has spent on the technology over the previous three years combined, according to a person familiar with the memo.
Meta has already cut around 2,000 jobs in two smaller rounds earlier this year, but employees had been preparing for a deeper reduction as the company shifted resources toward developing AI models and tools to compete more aggressively in the space.
Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg had earlier signalled further job cuts, saying in January that AI-driven productivity gains were changing how work gets done. “I think that 2026 is going to be the year that AI starts to dramatically change the way that we work,” Zuckerberg said, adding that tasks once handled by large teams could increasingly be completed by a single employee using AI tools.
Last week, Reuters reported that Meta was considering cutting more than 10,000 jobs this year. |
