Meta Planning Massive Layoffs in May Amid AI Push

Reuters is reporting that, according to three separate sources, Meta intends to conduct its first wave of layoffs on May 20, with more coming after that. 

Layoffs Incoming as Workforce Cuts Take Shape

One of the sources told Reuters that the plan is to lay off 10% of its global workforce, which is about 8,000 employees. 

More layoffs will be coming in the second half of the year, Reuters said, but "details of those cuts, including date and size, were not yet settled."

Last month, Reuters reported that Meta was planning to lay off more than 20% of its global workforce, so if 10% is coming on May 20 and there's more planned for this year, that could very well be the case. 

Meta declined to provide a comment to Reuters. 

As Reuters also notes, Meta CEO Mark Zuckberg has been spending billions of dollars on AI to "reshape his company's inner workings around technology," which Reuters says is a pattern among other major US tech companies. 

AI Investments Driving Cuts

Recently, Amazon laid off about 30,000 corporate employees, which was about 10% of its white-collar workforce. Also, in February, Block, a fintech company, cut about half of its staff. 

In both cases, AI efficiency gains were cited. 

According to Layoffs.fyi, 73,212 employees have lost their jobs so far this year. In 2024, there were 153,000. 

These cuts by Meta will be the largest since the restructuring in late 2022 and early 2023, when it cut 21,000 jobs. Meta's stock at that time was struggling as it was correcting "COVID-era growth assumptions that ultimately proved unsustainable." 

Right now, Meta is more comfortable financially, but executives, per Reuters, "envision a future of fewer ​management layers and greater efficiency ⁠brought about by AI-assisted workers."

Since the start of last year, Meta's stock has been up nearly 3.7%. Last year, the company generated more than $200 billion in revenue and $60 billion in profit. 

As of December 31, Meta in Menlo Park, California, employs about 79,000 people. 

Reuters also reports that Meta recently reorganized teams in its Reality Labs division and transferred engineers into an "Applied AI" organization, tasked with accelerating the development of AI agents ⁠that can ​write code and carry out complex tasks autonomously."

One of the sources also told Reuters that some staffers would be transferred to Meta Small Business, which was launched last month, as part of its restructuring.