Meta Platforms, Inc. is laying off approximately 10% of its workforce—roughly 8,000 employees—as the social media giant accelerates its pivot toward artificial intelligence and seeks to offset soaring infrastructure costs, the company announced Thursday.
The workforce reduction was detailed in an internal memo from Chief People Officer Janelle Gale, who stated that the layoffs are scheduled for May 20. In addition, Meta will not fill about 6,000 previously planned open roles. The cuts follow weeks of speculation among staff after earlier rounds of job reductions at divisions such as Reality Labs, and after details of the restructuring leaked publicly.
“We’re doing this as part of our continued effort to run the company more efficiently and to allow us to offset the other investments we’re making,” Gale wrote in the memo. “This is not an easy trade-off and it will mean letting go of people who have made meaningful contributions to Meta during their time here.”
CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been ramping up spending on AI talent, large language models, and chatbot development. Meta’s capital expenditures are projected to reach up to $135 billion this year—nearly double last year’s level—with much of that directed toward AI infrastructure. The company has also inked multiple multibillion-dollar partnerships with AI firms in recent months.
Affected U.S. employees will receive severance packages including 16 weeks of base pay, plus two additional weeks for every year of service. Meta will also cover 18 months of COBRA healthcare costs and offer career and immigration support.
Meta’s stock fell more than 2% on the day of the announcement, closing near $659 per share.
The layoffs are part of a broader wave of workforce adjustments across the tech industry as companies grapple with rising costs and the integration of AI tools. Microsoft offered voluntary retirement buyouts to about 7% of its U.S. workforce on Thursday, and Block (the parent of Square and Cash App) eliminated 40% of its employees in February, citing AI-driven efficiency gains.
Meta ended 2025 with over 78,000 employees. The company has encouraged staff to adopt AI tools for coding and other internal tasks, signaling a deeper shift toward automation.
