The company told employees in a memo on Thursday that it planned to cut 10% of its workforce – roughly 8000 staff. It said it would also not fill thousands more open jobs it had been hiring for.
A key reason for the layoffs is Meta’s increased spending in other areas of the company, including AI, for which it will this year spend 135bn dollars (100bn pounds). This is roughly equal to the amount it has spent on AI in the previous three years combined, according to a person who viewed the memo.
A spokesman for Meta confirmed the planned job cuts but declined to comment further.
Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s co-founder and chief executive, made public comments in January that essentially telegraphed the company would be cutting jobs again this year.
The Meta boss said he had seen how much more productive workers who relied heavily on AI tools had become, noting a single person could now complete projects that would have previously required a large team.
“I think that 2026 is going to be the year that AI starts to dramatically change the way that we work,” Zuckerberg said.
