Meta layoffs slash Reality Labs workforce as Zuckerberg pivots hard from metaverse to AI
21 Sources
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Meta Is Reportedly Laying Off Hundreds of Metaverse Employees This Week
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg (Credit: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images) Mass tech layoffs repeatedly grabbed headlines in 2025, and early signs suggest the trend may continue this year. Meta is reportedly set to lay off hundreds of employees in its Reality Labs division. The division
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Meta retreats from metaverse after virtual reality check
Imagine changing your popular brand to capitalize on an emerging tech trend that never emerged. Mark Zuckerberg did just that, and now Meta is backing away from the virtual reality business in which it invested billions. In 2025, Meta's Reality Labs division, responsible for the company's various
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Meta Plans to Cut 10% of Jobs at Company's Reality Labs Division
Meta Platforms Inc. plans to cut 10% of jobs in the company's Reality Labs division, part of a broader strategy to shift money away from some virtual reality products and into other AI wearables. The cuts are expected this week, according to a person familiar with the company's plans who wasn't
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Meta's VR layoffs, studio closures underscore Zuckerberg's massive pivot to AI
Andrew Bosworth, chief technology officer of Meta Platforms Inc., speaks during a Bloomberg Television interview on the sidelines of the Meta Connect event in Menlo Park, California, US, on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. Meta's decision to scale back its VR efforts comes 12 years after Facebook
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Meta to lay off hundreds in Reality Labs amid shift from metaverse to AI
Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years. TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust. In a nutshell: Remember how much faith Mark Zuckerberg had in the metaverse? He even renamed his company after the concept of a shared VR social platform. That was before AI became the tech
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Meta Plans to Cut 10% to 15% of Employees in Reality Labs Business
Meta plans to cut around 10 percent of the employees in its Reality Labs division who work on products including the metaverse, according to three people with knowledge of the discussions, as the company shifts priorities to build next-generation artificial intelligence. The cuts to Reality Labs
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Meta Reportedly Cutting About 1,500 VR and AR Jobs Amid Renewed Push to Become an AI Juggernaut
According to an anonymously-sourced New York Times article, as early as Tuesday Meta will announce that about 10% of the workers in the company’s Reality Labs division are set to lose their jobsâ€"about 1,500 people in a division of about 15,000. Reality Labs was once Oculus, the VR headset
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Meta Lays Off Thousands of VR Workers as Zuckerberg's Vision Fails
After years of failing to produce a profitable augmented reality platform, Mark Zuckerberg's Meta is pounding one of the final nails into the coffin of its metaverse efforts -- the ones that were once so central to its vision that it renamed the entire company after them. This week, the Wall
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How Meta's Latest Job Cuts Compare to Recent Broader Tech Sector Layoffs - Decrypt
The move is modest compared with broader tech layoffs in 2025, which eased late in the year. Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has cut about 1,000 jobs from its virtual reality and metaverse division Reality Labs, as it reportedly prepares to shift resources toward AI
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Meta is closing 3 VR studios and laying off roughly 10% of Reality Labs as it shifts focus from the metaverse to AI wearables, it's next sure-fire, can't-miss idea
Armature Studios, Sanzaru Games, and Twisted Pixel are done for. Meta chief technology officer Andrew "Boz" Bosworth said early in 2025 that the metaverse could be a "legendary misadventure" if the company's Reality Labs division didn't turn things around that year in a big way. Well, here we are
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Meta reportedly prepares new round of Reality Labs layoffs as AI takes priority - SiliconANGLE
Meta reportedly prepares new round of Reality Labs layoffs as AI takes priority Meta Platforms Inc. is reportedly planning to cut around 10% of employees at its Reality Labs division as the company shifts its priorities to artificial intelligence. The New York Times, referencing three people
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Meta Plans To Cut 10% Of Metaverse Division
Meta's Reality Labs is set for cuts as the firm's metaverse budget continues to decline amid push toward artificial intelligence development. Meta is reportedly set to lay off around 10% of staff from its metaverse arm Reality Labs this week, as the firm focuses its resources on artificial
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Meta plans to cut about 10% of employees in one sector
SAN FRANCISCO -- Meta plans to cut about 10% of the employees in its Reality Labs division who work on products including the metaverse, according to three people with knowledge of the discussions, as the company shifts priorities to build next-generation artificial intelligence. The cuts to
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Meta Starts Cutting Jobs, Signaling a Broader Shift in Strategy
According to a Meta spokesperson, the move is part of an effort to shift the company's investment from the metaverse to wearables. Meta is cutting more than 1,000 jobs in its Reality Labs division, a unit working on virtual and augmented reality hardware, software and platforms. The move cements a
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Meta began 2026 with a sharp cut of over 1,000 Reality Labs jobs - are Facebook or Instagram affected, or is Apple and Google's AI wearables competition responsible?
Meta began 2026 with a major workforce reset, cutting over 1,000 jobs from its Reality Labs division. The layoffs, affecting nearly 10% of the unit, started on January 13 and mark the first big Bay Area tech cuts of the year. Meta says Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp are not impacted. This move
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Meta To Cut Over 10% Jobs In Reality Labs Division Amid AI Focus: Report - Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)
Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is reportedly planning to cut about 10% or more jobs in its Reality Labs division, which includes the metaverse, to focus more on next-generation AI initiatives. The Reality Labs division, which currently employs around 15,000 people is responsible for virtual
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Meta layoffs 2026: CTO Andrew Bosworth confirms job cuts for roughly 10% of employees within the Reality Labs unit
Meta Platforms is beginning to cut more than 1,000 jobs from the company's Reality Labs division, part of a plan to redirect resources from virtual reality and metaverse products toward AI wearables and phone features. The cuts are expected to hit roughly 10% of employees within the Reality Labs
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Meta Cutting Reality Labs Workforce by 10% | PYMNTS.com
By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions. That's according to a report Monday (Jan. 12) by Bloomberg News, which
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Meta to cut about 1,500 jobs in Reality Labs as Mark Zuckerberg...
Meta is preparing to cut about 1,500 employees from its Reality Labs division -- roughly 10% of the unit's 15,000-person workforce -- as early as this week as the company pivots hard toward artificial intelligence. The cuts are expected to hit teams working on virtual-reality headsets and Meta's
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Meta plans to cut 10% of Reality Labs staff amid AI shift - NYT By Investing.com
Investing.com -- Meta is planning to cut around 10% of employees in its Reality Labs division as the company shifts priorities toward building next-generation artificial intelligence. The layoffs, which could be announced as early as Tuesday, will primarily affect staff working on virtual reality
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Meta Shuts 3 VR Studios and Lays Off Hundreds of Devs as It Pivots From Virtual Reality and the Metaverse to AI - IGN
Cuts expected to hit around 10% of Reality Labs' 15,000-strong workforce. Meta is laying off around 10% of staff at its Reality Labs division as part of sweeping cuts set to affect more than 1,000 people. This includes the closure of a number of VR-first studios, such as Twisted Pixel, the studio
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Meta is cutting approximately 1,000 jobs from its Reality Labs division this week, marking a dramatic retreat from metaverse ambitions. The division has lost over $70 billion in four years, prompting Mark Zuckerberg to reallocate resources toward AI glasses and wearables. The company is also discontinuing Meta Quest business sales and shuttering Horizon Workrooms as it bets big on AI infrastructure.
Meta Slashes Reality Labs Workforce Amid Strategic Shift to AI
Meta is laying off hundreds of employees from its Reality Labs division this week, with approximately 10% of the unit's 15,000-person workforce losing their jobs
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. The job cuts in Reality Labs division, which oversees Meta's AR and Virtual Reality (VR) projects, represent one of the most significant admissions yet that Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse gamble has failed to deliver. Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth, who leads the division, has called what he described as the "most important" meeting of the year to announce the cuts1
. The vast majority of those affected work in the Metaverse unit on virtual reality headsets and virtual social networks, underscoring Zuckerberg's massive pivot to AI and away from immersive virtual worlds.
Source: Cointelegraph
Financial Losses in Reality Labs Drive Dramatic Retreat from Metaverse
The decision to execute these Meta layoffs comes after Reality Labs has accumulated staggering operating losses exceeding $70 billion since late 2020
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. In its most recent quarterly earnings, the division posted a $4.4 billion loss on just $470 million in sales4
. The first quarter of 2025 alone saw Reality Labs lose $4.2 billion2
. These mounting financial losses in Reality Labs have forced Meta to fundamentally rethink its investment priorities. Bloomberg previously reported that Meta was planning to slash its metaverse budget by 30% and reallocate resources from virtual reality toward the development of AI glasses and wearables1
.Meta Quest Business Sales End as Horizon Worlds Shuts Down
Meta's retreat from metaverse extends beyond workforce reductions. The company announced it will stop sales of Meta Quest headsets to businesses effective February 20, 2026
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. Existing customers with Meta Quest 3 and 3S headsets will retain access to Meta Horizon services until January 4, 2030, but Meta Horizon Workrooms, the company's virtual reality conferencing system introduced in 2021, will be discontinued entirely by February 162
. Horizon Worlds, which Mark Zuckerberg once positioned as the centerpiece of his metaverse vision, has struggled with low usage since launch4
. Multiple VR developers told CNBC they remain frustrated because Meta doesn't share specific usage statistics that could help them create more compelling experiences. The company's $50 million Creator Fund launched in February to entice developers has failed to reverse the platform's fortunes4
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Source: SiliconANGLE
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Development of AI Glasses and Wearables Takes Priority
As Meta executes these tech layoffs, the company is redirecting investment toward AI infrastructure and wearables that have shown actual market traction. The Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses have sold over 2 million units by Q2 2025, representing a rare success story for Reality Labs
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. On Monday, Mark Zuckerberg launched Meta Compute, a new initiative aimed at building "tens of gigawatts this decade, and hundreds of gigawatts or more over time" to support the company's AI infrastructure1
. Meta plans to release its next frontier AI model, codenamed Avocado, in the first quarter of this year as it competes with OpenAI and Google, whose large language models continue gaining popularity4
. The company's stock performance has reflected investor concerns, trailing both Alphabet and the Nasdaq in 2025 and declining more than 4% in early 20264
. The AI pivot represents Meta's attempt to capitalize on momentum in wearables while acknowledging that the shared virtual universe Zuckerberg envisioned—the very concept that prompted him to rebrand Facebook as Meta in 2021—has failed to capture public imagination or generate sustainable revenue.
Source: Entrepreneur
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