Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, is planning to reduce its workforce by approximately 10%, equating to nearly 8,000 employees in the initial round of layoffs for this year. Further job cuts are anticipated in the latter part of the year, although specific details are not yet disclosed. This decision coincides with Meta’s CEO, Marc Zuckerberg, spearheading a significant investment in artificial intelligence technology.
The company’s executives may adjust their strategies based on advancements in AI capabilities. Recent reports indicated that Meta was contemplating laying off over 20% of its global workforce. The first wave of job cuts is expected to take place on May 20, with subsequent rounds of layoffs planned later in the year as revealed by internal sources to Reuters.
In a press release from November 2025, Meta announced a substantial $600 billion investment to bolster AI technology, infrastructure, and workforce expansion, focusing on cutting-edge AI data centers. Zuckerberg aims to restructure the company to concentrate on this emerging technology. Similar approaches with AI have been adopted by companies like Amazon and Oracle, which recently downsized their corporate staff.
Meta has undergone restructuring within its Reality Labs division and transitioned engineers to a new “Applied AI” unit aimed at developing AI agents capable of autonomously performing intricate tasks, including coding. Additionally, some employees might be reassigned to Meta Small Business, a newly established division as part of the company’s reorganization efforts.
Despite the impending job cuts, Meta remains financially stable, with its shares rising by 3.68% since the beginning of the year. In the previous year, the company generated revenue exceeding $200 billion and achieved a profit of $60 billion.
The current job market landscape has been tumultuous, with a notable rise in tech job layoffs. According to Layoffs.fyi, a platform monitoring global tech job cuts, over 73,000 employees have lost their jobs in 2026 thus far.