Meta cuts 8,000 jobs as Zuckerberg bets the company’s future on AI
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks during the company’s Connect developer conference on Sept. 17, 2025, in Menlo Park. Meta began cutting about 8,000 jobs Wednesday as Zuckerberg pushes the company deeper into artificial intelligence. The cuts amount to roughly 10% of the Facebook parent’s workforce and come as the Menlo Park company also reassigns about 7,000 employees to new AI-related teams. The layoffs were expected after Meta told employees in April that the reductions would begin May 20. Notifications began in Asia before spreading to Europe and the United States, according to Bloomberg. Employees were encouraged to work from home as the company delivered the notices. Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has framed the cuts as part of a broader push to make the company more efficient while it spends heavily on AI. In January, the company told investors it expected 2026 capital expenditures of $115 billion to $135 billion, with growth driven by investments to support Meta Superintelligence Labs and its core business. Meta reported $200.97 billion in revenue and $60.46 billion in net income for 2025. The restructuring highlights how sharply Silicon Valley’s largest companies are reorganizing around AI, even while many remain highly profitable. Meta had 78,865 employees at the end of 2025, up 6% from a year earlier, according to the company. The New York Times reported Wednesday that some employees had signed petitions opposing a Meta program that would use employee data to train internal AI tools. The Times also reported that workers exchanged messages remotely and checked internal directories to learn which colleagues had been cut. Reuters reported that Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg told employees he did not expect more company-wide layoffs this year, according to an internal memo the news agency reviewed. That would mark a shift from earlier reports that additional cuts could follow later in 2026. Affected U.S. workers are expected to receive 16 weeks of severance pay, plus two additional weeks for every year of service. Meta did not immediately provide a new public statement Wednesday beyond previously reported internal communications. The company has said in past restructuring statements that teams regularly make changes to align resources with their goals. For the Bay Area, the cuts add to a steady drumbeat of tech layoffs at companies that are simultaneously spending aggressively on AI data centers, chips and talent.
Source: San Francisco Chronicle