Meta Platforms Inc. is planning a major reorganization that could claim 8,000 jobs in company CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s quest to double down on artificial intelligence (AI).
The social media giant intends to slash approximately 10% of its global workforce in an initial round of cuts scheduled for May 20, according to reports surfacing Friday.
Wall Street reacted favorably to the news of a leaner Meta, with the company’s stock rising nearly 2% during Friday’s trading session.
The move marks the beginning of what sources describe as a multi-phase reduction strategy. While the first wave is imminent, additional layoffs are expected in the second half of this year. Executives have yet to finalize the scope of those later cuts, which will reportedly be influenced by the company’s progress in integrating AI into its core operations, Reuters reported.
The restructuring comes as Meta scrambles to keep pace with industry leaders OpenAI and Anthropic. To maintain its competitive edge, the company has projected a staggering $135 billion in capital spending this year alone. The realignment toward AI infrastructure has necessitated a lean approach to human capital, reminiscent of Zuckerberg’s 2023 “Year of Efficiency.”
Internal reorganizations are already underway. Meta has reportedly moved engineers from its Reality Labs division into a newly formed Applied AI group. This team is tasked with developing AI agents capable of high-level functions, including writing code and managing complex tasks that were previously the domain of human staff.
Meta’s downsizing is not an isolated event but rather part of a broader AI-related upheaval sweeping Silicon Valley.
In recent months, Snap Inc. slashed 1,000 jobs, with CEO Evan Spiegel citing AI’s ability to reduce repetitive work, Block Inc. CEO Jack Dorsey announced a 40% workforce reduction in a sharp pivot to a “full embrace” of automated tools, and Amazon.com Inc. eliminated about 30,000 corporate roles while integrating AI to boost productivity.
As of late last year, Meta employed nearly 79,000 people. While a Meta spokesperson previously dismissed earlier layoff rumors as “speculative,” the current trajectory suggests the company is moving toward its most significant workforce reduction since the 2022-2023 period, when more than 20,000 roles were whacked.
