Meta plans to cut 20% of workforce as AI spending reaches $600 billion, mirroring broader tech trend

Meta Reportedly Plans Job Cuts as AI Spending Surges

Expertise Video gaming, computer hardware, laptops, home energy, home internet Meta is betting the farm on AI, regardless of the mounting price tag. Now, the company is reportedly gearing up to slash one-fifth of its workforce through wide-reaching layoffs, according to an exclusively sourced Reuters report. There's no exact headcount or date set for when the cuts will occur, the three anonymous sources Reuters quoted said, but Meta's top executives have reportedly asked their peers to begin planning for the layoffs. A Meta representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment. According to Reuters' sources, Meta plans to operate with fewer workers now that AI agents assist them in their daily tasks. It's also meant to cut costs associated with ramping up AI infrastructure. Meta has been investing increasingly large sums to compete in the ever-evolving AI landscape, creating a "superintelligence team" that works toward achieving artificial general intelligence, or AGI. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has personally initiated a string of expensive hires and acquisitions during a tense AI talent war, poaching Scale AI's co-founder in a $14.3 billion deal and offering $100 million signing bonuses to OpenAI engineers. CNET AI expert Katelyn Chedraoui notes that Meta's biggest AI projects still haven't come to fruition. "Meta has been spending big to keep up with its AI ambitions, from hiring to data center construction," Chedraoui said. "But all that cash hasn't led to many public wins, with recent reports saying it will delay the release of its new foundational model, named Avocado. Rumors of cost-cutting measures like layoffs are another sign Meta is struggling." Meta's struggles with Avocado aren't an isolated problem for the company. Last year, Meta suffered a series of setbacks bringing its Llama 4 models to the public. More recently, Meta's AI-powered smart glasses have been at the center of a class action lawsuit related to the capture of sensitive information -- including nudity and otherwise private encounters. Meta's rising costs are likely tied in part to these AI-generated frustrations. The rumored layoffs wouldn't be the first time that Meta executives have committed to carving away such a massive chunk of its workforce. Still, it would be the first time this has happened since the company pivoted hard toward developing its own AI models. Meta laid off 21,000 employees between 2022 and 2023. If these layoffs come to pass, Meta would be far from the only Silicon Valley giant cutting costs by laying off workers in the age of AI. Over the past several months, major companies like Amazon, Block and Atlassian have announced layoffs affecting thousands of employees, citing increased reliance on AI tools as a motivating factor. Earlier this year, Zuckerberg told investors he saw "projects that used to require big teams now be accomplished by a single very talented person." Meta continues to ramp up its spending on AI projects and platforms. The company recently purchased Moltbook, a social networking platform for AI, and is buying the Chinese startup Manus for $2 billion. Reuters reports that the company still plans to spend $600 billion on data centers by 2028.

Exclusive: Meta planning sweeping layoffs as AI costs mount

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO, March 13 (Reuters) - Meta (META.O), opens new tab is planning sweeping layoffs that could affect 20% or more of the company, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, as Meta seeks to offset costly artificial intelligence infrastructure bets and prepare for greater efficiency brought about by AI-assisted workers. No date has been set for the cuts and the magnitude has not been finalized, the people said. Top executives have recently signaled the plans to other senior leaders at Meta and told them to begin planning how to pare back, two of the people said. The sources spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to disclose the cuts. Meta did not immediately comment. If Meta settles on the 20% ⁠figure, the layoffs will be the company's most significant since a restructuring in late 2022 and early 2023 that it dubbed the "year of efficiency." It employed nearly 79,000 people as of December 31, according to its latest filing. The company laid off 11,000 staffers in November 2022, or around 13% of its workforce at the time. Around four months later, it announced it was cutting another 10,000 jobs. ZUCKERBERG FOCUSING ON GENERATIVE AI Over the last year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been pushing Meta to compete more forcefully in generative AI. The company has offered huge pay packages, some worth hundreds of millions of dollars over four years, to court top AI researchers to a new superintelligence team. The company has said it plans to invest $600 billion to build data centers by 2028. Earlier this week, it acquired Moltbook, a social ⁠networking platform built for AI agents. Meta is also spending at least $2 billion to buy Chinese AI startup Manus, Reuters previously reported. Zuckerberg has alluded to efficiency gains from the investments, saying in January he was starting to see "projects that used to require big teams now be accomplished by a single very talented person." Meta's plans reflect a broader pattern among major U.S. companies, particularly in tech, this year. Executives have pointed to recent improvements in ⁠AI systems as one reason for the changes. In January, Amazon confirmed it would cut some 16,000 jobs, amounting to nearly 10% of its workforce. Last month, the fintech company Block chopped nearly half of its staff, with CEO Jack Dorsey explicitly pointing to AI tools and their growing capability to help companies ⁠do more with smaller teams. Meta's planned AI investments follow a series of setbacks with its Llama 4 models last year, including criticism that it provided misleading results on the benchmarks it used for early versions. It abandoned the release of the largest version ⁠of that model, called Behemoth, which had been due out in the summer. The superintelligence team has been working to reassert the company's standing this year by building a new model called Avocado, but the performance of that model has also lagged expectations. Reporting by Deepa Seetharaman and Jeff Horwitz in San Francisco and Katie Paul in New York; editing by Kenneth Li, Rod Nickel Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Meta reportedly plans sweeping layoffs as AI costs increase

Sources tell Reuters layoffs could affect 20% or more of company as plans reflect broader tensions within big tech Meta is planning sweeping layoffs that could affect 20% or more of the company, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, as Meta seeks to offset costly artificial intelligence infrastructure bets and prepare for greater efficiency brought about by AI-assisted workers. No date has been set for the cuts and the magnitude has not been finalized, the people said. Top executives have recently signaled the plans to other senior leaders at Meta and told them to begin planning how to pare back, two of the people said. The sources spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to disclose the cuts. Meta did not immediately comment. If Meta settles on the 20% figure, the layoffs will be the company's most significant since a restructuring in late 2022 and early 2023 that it dubbed the "year of efficiency." It employed nearly 79,000 people as of 31 December, according to its latest filing. The company laid off 11,000 staffers in November 2022, or about 13% of its workforce at the time. Around four months later, it announced it was cutting another 10,000 jobs. Over the last year, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has been pushing Meta to compete more forcefully in generative AI. The company has offered huge pay packages, some worth hundreds of millions of dollars over four years, to court top AI researchers to a new superintelligence team. The company has said it plans to invest $600bn to build data centers by 2028. Earlier this week, it acquired Moltbook, a social networking platform built for AI agents. Meta is also spending at least $2bn to buy Chinese AI startup Manus, Reuters previously reported. Zuckerberg has alluded to efficiency gains from the investments, saying in January he was starting to see "projects that used to require big teams now be accomplished by a single very talented person". Meta's plans reflect a broader pattern among major US companies, particularly in tech, this year. Executives have pointed to recent improvements in AI systems as one reason for the changes. In January, Amazon confirmed it would cut some 16,000 jobs, amounting to nearly 10% of its workforce. Last month, the fintech company Block chopped nearly half of its staff, with CEO Jack Dorsey explicitly pointing to AI tools and their growing capability to help companies do more with smaller teams. Meta's planned AI investments follow a series of setbacks with its Llama 4 models last year, including criticism that it provided misleading results on the benchmarks it used for early versions. It abandoned the release of the largest version of that model, called Behemoth, which had been due out in the summer. The superintelligence team has been working to reassert the company's standing this year by building a new model called Avocado, but the performance of that model has also lagged expectations.

Mark Zuckerberg's Meta fulfills Jack Dorsey's dire prophecy with plans to cut 20% of staff for AI | Fortune

When Bernstein analyst Mark Shmulik sent a note to clients about Meta's reported plans to cut 20% or more of its roughly 79,000-person workforce, he issued a warning. If Meta succeeds in redrawing the blueprint for an AI-enabled organization, he wrote, "others will rush to replicate it," potentially triggering "a cascade of hurried pivots, half-formed strategies, and reactive restructuring across the ecosystem." The math alone is striking. Even at a 20% headcount reduction, Shmulik estimates Meta could realize $2 billion to $4 billion in cost savings this year and $5 billion to $8 billion in 2027 -- translating to 3%-5% EPS upside in 2026 and 4%-7% in 2027. But he was quick to note the savings are more likely to be redeployed into AI infrastructure than returned to shareholders. Meta is already planning to spend $600 billion on data centers by 2028 and recently acquired AI startup Manus for at least $2 billion. What makes the moment significant isn't the scale of the cuts, but the context. Less than three weeks ago, Jack Dorsey laid off nearly half of Block's 4,000-person workforce and made a blunt prediction to investors: within a year, most companies would reach the same conclusion. He didn't have to wait the whole year. Zuckerberg has been telegraphing the same logic. In January, he said he was starting to see "projects that used to require big teams now be accomplished by a single very talented person." Reuters reported Friday that Meta is now targeting a 50:1 employee-to-manager ratio -- unthinkable against the 7-to-15:1 long considered standard. The competitive pressure is already visible elsewhere. Amazon confirmed 16,000 job cuts in January. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has said he "needs less heads" after cutting 4,000 from his customer support workforce. Economist Anton Korinek previously told Fortune the trend could mark "the beginning of a new era where white-collar jobs become threatened more seriously by AI. Once a few companies start the trend, competitive forces may induce others to follow suit." The central question Shmulik raises -- and leaves open -- is whether these cuts are genuinely AI-driven or whether AI is providing convenient cover for belt-tightening that would have happened anyway. "Fat exists in every organization," he wrote, "but it's usually not as clean as being concentrated in specific teams or individuals." "This is speculative reporting about theoretical approaches," a Meta spokesperson told Fortune. That theoretical approach, of course, could set off a cascade of cuts.

Meta Reportingly Firing a Vast Percentage of Its Staff in Zuckerberg's Move to AI

Can't-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg made headlines last year by offering mind-boggling job offers to top AI talent. One of these come-ons reportedly breached $1 billion -- a borderline absurd sum that ended up being declined. Still, the millennial CEO has had a hard time building out an AI team he's happy with, laying off rounds of AI developers after the hiring spree. His relationship with AI head Alexandr Wang has also grown tense as of late, with sources telling the Financial Times in December that he finds Zuckerberg's micromanagement to be suffocating. Meanwhile, the expenses for Meta's enormous spending commitments to build out AI infrastructure are continuing to balloon, leaving the company with major bills to pay. The company is projected to spend up to $135 billion in AI-related expenses in 2026 alone. Now, as inside sources told Reuters, the company is planning to conduct yet another round of sweeping layoffs that could affect an astonishing 20 percent or more of the company -- one of the clearest signs yet that Meta is prioritizing big bets on AI over employing humans who Zuckerberg believes will soon be made redundant by the tech anyway. Zuckerberg has made it clear he's looking for labor efficiency in the age of AI, arguing that "we're starting to see projects that used to require big teams now be accomplished by a single very talented person," earlier this year. The company didn't outright deny Reuters' reporting, but cast doubt on the purported plans, which would affect upward of 15,000 workers. "This is speculative reporting about theoretical approaches," Meta spokesperson Andy Stone told the news agency. If confirmed, it could be one of the company's biggest rounds of layoffs in history. In 2022, it laid off 11,000 employees. In early 2023, Zuckerberg announced a "year of efficiency," cutting 10,000 more jobs. The cuts don't appear to be a sign that Meta is struggling to find funding. The company is planning to spend a whopping $600 billion to build AI data centers by 2028. The company has also been on a shopping spree, buying a Reddit-like site populated by AI bots, called Moltbook, last week -- and a Chinese AI startup called Manus for $2 billion to $3 billion. Investors are also optimistic. Following the latest news, the company's shares surged almost three percent when trading resumed on Monday. The rumored layoffs are part of a much greater trend in the tech industry, with companies including Elon Musk's xAI, Australian software company Atlassian, and Amazon cutting thousands of positions this month alone. Block CEO and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey fired a particularly loud warning shot late last month, announcing his fintech company would be cutting almost half of its staff. Provocatively, Dorsey cited "intelligence tools" that were creating a "new way of working" with smaller teams. His missive once again stoked fears of an imminent -- or perhaps ongoing -- AI jobs apocalypse, a massive shake-up that has economists on edge. Whether Meta will be able to keep up as the heated AI race continues remains to be seen. The company's efforts, including its Llama 4 models, have failed to impress, and it was forced to push back the release of its latest AI model, code-named Avocado, because its performance is still falling short of competing ones from the likes of Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic. "As we've said publicly, our next model will be good but, more importantly, show the rapid trajectory we're on," Meta spokesperson Dave Arnold told the New York Times, and "then we'll steadily push the frontier over the course of the year as we continue to release new models." "We're excited for people to see what we've been cooking very soon," he added. Zuckerberg has also tried to undercut ongoing reporting that his relationship with Wang has soured, posting a selfie of himself and his company's AI lead sheepishly smiling into the camera last week. But given the company's fight for relevancy, there's clearly a very different story playing out behind those beaming faces.

Reports: Meta weighing up 20pc global layoffs

'This is a speculative report about theoretical approaches,' Meta tells the press. Meta is planning a fresh round of layoffs that could affect 20pc or more of the company's global workforce, reported Reuters. The layoffs, which could cut around 15,800 jobs, are meant to offset Meta's massive AI spend and prepare the company for AI-assisted work instead, sources told the publication. Meta employs nearly 79,000 globally, with around 1,700 in Ireland. Meta did not confirm the report. A company spokesperson told SiliconRepublic.com: "This is a speculative report about theoretical approaches." The Facebook parent, much like many in the Big Tech league, has cut thousands of jobs in recent years in favour of spending billions for its AI build out. Meta laid off 5pc of its "lowest performers" in early 2025 - amounting to around 3,600 people at the time. In October, it cut 600 jobs at its AI efforts called the Superintelligence Labs. While in 2022, it cut 11,000 jobs globally, with Irish workers affected, and in 2023, it laid off 10,000 jobs worldwide. Headcount in Ireland was cut by 20pc in 2024, which followed an 18pc decline during 2023. In early 2025, Meta employed around 2,000 in the country. That number is now down by around 300. Reports from January 2026 suggested that Meta could cut 10pc of its Reality Labs division, which employs roughly 15,000. While in December, it was speculated that the company would be reducing its budget for metaverse by 30pc, which includes the 'Meta Horizon Worlds' project and its Quest virtual reality unit. The budget cut was also expected to include layoffs. Meta expects its total expenses for the year to be as high as $135bn, driven by an increased investment to support its Superintelligence Labs efforts as well as its core business. The company has been building its own in-house hardware, and poaching key talent from its rivals to boost its AI efforts. In February, Meta announced a multi-year chip deal with Nvidia that would reportedly cost the company billions of dollars. It struck a $14.2bn deal with CoreWeave for its cloud compute power months earlier. Meanwhile, a $10bn deal with Google for its cloud services is also speculated. Recently, Meta spent as much as $3bn to acquire the Chinese-founded AI start-up Manus. Earlier this month, it acquired the viral social platform for AI bots called Moltbook for an undisclosed amount. Meta stocks fell by as much as 23pc from its August peak since last Friday (13 March). Investors are also concerned after the company delayed its much anticipated AI model Avacado. Don't miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic's digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.

Report: Meta could layoff 20% of its staff and replace many of them with AI workers - SiliconANGLE

Report: Meta could layoff 20% of its staff and replace many of them with AI workers Meta Platforms Inc. is reportedly planning to lay off as much as 20% of its global staff, according to a report by Reuters Friday which cited three people familiar with the company's inner workings. The layoffs are being made in order to offset the company's costly investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure and lay the groundwork for more business processes to be automated by AI-powered autonomous workers, the report said. The magnitude of the layoffs has not been finalized and no date for the cuts has been agreed, the sources told Reuters. Senior executives at the company signalled their intentions to other top officials at Meta in the last week, telling them to start planning how and where the layoffs can be implemented, two of the sources said. A spokesperson for Meta declined to confirm the report, saying it's "speculative reporting about theoretical approaches." If Meta really does lay off 20% of its staff, it would represent the most significant cuts at the company since late 2022 and early 2023, when it embarked on what became known as a "year of efficiency." It cut more than 11,000 staff in November 2022, representing about 13% of its workforce. Four months later, it let another 10,000 workers go. The proposed layoffs come at a time when Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has been pushing the company hard to compete better in the AI industry against rivals such as Google LLC and OpenAI Group PBC. The company went on a hiring spree last year, paying multimillion-dollar salaries to some of the industry's leading researchers to build its new superintelligence team. Last month, the company announced it's going to spend $600 billion on building data centers by 2028. It has also spent millions on acquisitions, buying the social networking platform for AI agents Moltbook last week, and spending around $2 billion to buy the agentic AI startup Manus. In January, referred to "efficiency gains" from such investments, saying that "projects that used to require big teams now be accomplished by a single very talented person." Meta wouldn't be the first big technology company to try and replace human workers with AI systems. In January, Amazon.com Inc. said it's cutting 16,000 jobs, or 10% of its workforce. Then in February, Block announced it's chopping almost half of its staff, with CEO Jack Dorsey saying that many of them will be replaced by AI tools. Meta's AI strategy has faced a number of setbacks, especially with regard to its Llama 4 models that launched last year. The company attracted a lot of criticism over their disappointing performance, causing it to abandon the release of a more powerful version of that model, called Behemoth. Its new Superintelligence team is now working on a new model dubbed "Avocado," but it's not clear when it will be released.

Report: Meta Plans 'Sweeping Layoffs' as AI Woes Mount

As a result, the Times reported, Meta has pushed back the launch of the Avocado model from this month to at least May. Meta's leaders have reportedly discussed licensing Gemini, the family of AI models from Google, to temporarily power the social media company's AI features. The Times also reported that Meta executives are currently debating whether or not to release the new model as open or closed source. Meta has previously committed to open source models, allowing developers to view some of the code inside the models, download the models, and run them on their own hardware. Closed source models, on the other hand, can only be run through an API, meaning they can't be downloaded or freely used. Meta has invested heavily to compete in the AI race. The company shelled out hundreds of millions to recruit top talent from across the industry, spent $14.3 billion to acquire a 49 percent stake in Scale AI and recruit founder Alexandr Wang to lead the company's AI efforts, and last week acquired Moltbook, a social media site for AI agents. Today, Meta announced that it would spend up to $27 billion over a multi-year period for access to AI infrastructure from data center company Nebius. When the stock market opened this morning, Meta shares jumped by around 3 percent. Tech investors appear eager for large organizations to cut costs by slashing their workforce; when Block CEO Jack Dorsey announced plans to eliminate 4,000 employees, shares of the company rose by roughly 20 percent. Reuters reports that as of December 31 2025, Meta employed nearly 79,000 people. A 20 percent cut could eliminate roughly 15,800 employees.

Meta shares jump after Reuters report on plans for layoffs of 20% or more - The Economic Times

Meta Platforms shares rose nearly 3% on Monday after a Reuters report that the social media giant plans to lay off 20% or more of its workforce to offset heavy spending on artificial intelligence and bet on productivity gains from the technology. If Meta settles on the 20% figure, the cuts will be the biggest since a late 2022 ⁠and early ⁠2023 restructuring it dubbed the "year of efficiency", which eliminated around 21,000 jobs. After falling behind in the AI race, Meta has spent heavily in recent years to catch up by building data centers and waging a talent war. It expects a capital outlay of up to $135 billion in 2026, roughly double of last year's spending. The expenditure is meant to secure the cloud capacity needed to train and run AI models, and Meta will spend up to $27 billion for such services from Nebius under a deal on Monday. While the spending has powered improvements in ⁠Meta's ad-tools and boosted sales, it has yet to roll out an AI model that can challenge industry leaders OpenAI, Anthropic and Google. Meta has been working on a new model called Avocado, but the performance ⁠of that model has also lagged expectations. A 20% staff cut could amount to about $6 billion in cost savings, or a 5% boost to adjusted core earnings, Rosenblatt Securities analyst Barton Crockett said. "This doesn't have to stop at 20%. There could be more down the road if AI is truly this impactful on staff productivity." Meta, whose workforce totaled 79,000 at the end of December, said on Friday, "this is speculative reporting about theoretical approaches" in response to Reuters' request for comment. Its stock was trading at $629. It has declined 7% so far this year, after rising nearly 13% in 2025. AI layoffs on the rise AI-linked layoffs have been rising globally. Companies have announced more than 61,000 job cuts tied to AI, including Amazon and Australia's Wisetech, since November. The debate over AI replacing human workers has intensified after Block CEO Jack Dorsey last ⁠month unveiled plans to let go nearly half of his company's staff, saying the technology has changed "what it means to build and run a company." Some analysts have noted that the layoffs also follow a period of over-hiring at companies. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said last month that some companies were blaming AI for the job cuts they would have made anyway. "Is AI a convenient scapegoat for cuts that might have happened anyway? Perhaps. But we believe the market will quickly see through companies using AI as camouflage," Bernstein analyst Mark Shmulik said in a note. He added that Meta was "probably the best placed incumbent to pivot to an AI-enabled organization", pointing to the success of its post-pandemic restructuring.

The Steep Human Cost of Meta's Ambitious AI Expansion

The news service reported this weekend that three sources said the company's top executives have already started planning where and when to implement the staff reductions. The rumored layoff of one-fifth of its staff would represent the deepest cut since November 2022, when Facebook's parent company slashed 13 percent of its payroll, eliminating 11,000 jobs. Four months later, in early 2023, Meta cut another 10,000 positions. "This is speculative reporting about theoretical approaches," said Andy Stone, a spokesperson for Meta, which claimed to employ 79,000 workers at the end of 2025.

Meta reportedly considering major layoffs to offset AI costs

Meta may be heading toward yet another massive round of layoffs. According to reports from Reuters, the company is discussing internally the possibility of laying off as much as 20 percent of its workforce, a move that could affect as many as 15,000-16,000 employees globally. The reason? The increasingly costly AI arms race. In recent years, Meta has poured enormous resources into artificial intelligence, data centers, and specialized hardware in an effort to keep pace with Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI. According to analysts, this is costing the company enormous sums, and in 2026 alone could amount to as much as $135 billion. However, this is far from the first time Meta has tightened its belt. During the "Year of Efficiency" cost-cutting program between 2022 and 2023, over 21,000 jobs were cut, and although no official statement has yet been issued by Meta, internal discussions are reportedly underway. If the reports are accurate, this could be the largest round of layoffs in the company's history.

Meta May Cut 20% Of Workforce As Mark Zuckerberg Doubles Down On Costly AI Push And Data Center Spending: Report - Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

A timeline for the potential layoffs has not been finalized, and the final scale of the cuts remains undecided, Reuters reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. Meta did not immediately respond to Benzinga's request for comments. Executives have reportedly begun informing senior leaders to start preparing plans for possible reductions. In a statement to Reuters, a Meta spokesperson described the report as "speculative reporting about theoretical approaches." Meta had about 79,000 employees as of Dec. 31, according to its latest filings. AI Spending Driving Cost Cuts The potential layoffs come as Meta sharply increases investment in AI. The company plans to spend about $600 billion on data center infrastructure by 2028 and has been offering lucrative compensation packages to recruit leading AI researchers for a new superintelligence team. Meta's move mirrors a wider trend among major U.S. companies. Price Action: Shares of Meta closed Friday down 3.83% at $613.71. It slipped another 0.45% to $610.96 in after-hours trading, according to Benzinga Pro. Benzinga Edge Stock Rankings indicate that Meta is showing weakness across the short, medium, and long-term trends, although the company's Quality score ranks in the 89th percentile. Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Image via Shutterstock Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.

Meta planning sweeping layoffs as AI costs mount - The Economic Times

Top executives have recently signaled the plans to other senior leaders at Meta and told them to begin planning how ⁠to ⁠pare back, two of the people said. The sources spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to disclose the cuts.Meta is planning sweeping layoffs that could affect 20% or more of the company, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, as Meta seeks to offset costly artificial intelligence infrastructure bets and prepare for greater efficiency brought about by AI-assisted workers. No date has been set for the cuts and the magnitude has not been finalized, the people said. Top executives have recently signaled the plans to other senior leaders at Meta and told them to begin planning how ⁠to ⁠pare back, two of the people said. The sources spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to disclose the cuts. Meta did not immediately comment. If Meta settles on the 20% figure, the layoffs will be the company's most significant since a restructuring in late 2022 and early 2023 that it dubbed the "year of efficiency." It employed nearly 79,000 people as of December 31, according to its latest filing. The company laid off 11,000 staffers in November 2022, or around 13% of its workforce at the time. Around four months later, it announced it was cutting another 10,000 ⁠jobs. Zuckerberg focussing on Generative AI Over the last year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been pushing Meta to compete more forcefully in generative AI. The company has offered huge pay packages, some worth hundreds of millions of ⁠dollars over four years, to court top AI researchers to a new superintelligence team. The company has said it plans to invest $600 billion to build data centers by 2028. Earlier this week, it acquired Moltbook, a social networking platform built for AI agents. Meta is also spending at least $2 billion to buy Chinese AI startup Manus, Reuters previously reported. Zuckerberg has alluded to efficiency gains from the investments, saying in January he was starting to see "projects that used to require big teams now be accomplished by a single very talented person." Meta's plans reflect a broader pattern among major U.S. companies, particularly in tech, this year. Executives have pointed to recent improvements in AI systems as one reason for the changes. In January, Amazon confirmed it would cut some 16,000 jobs, amounting to nearly 10% of its workforce. Last month, the fintech company Block chopped nearly ⁠half of its staff, with CEO Jack Dorsey explicitly pointing to AI tools and their growing capability to help companies do more with smaller teams. Meta's planned AI investments follow a series of setbacks with its Llama 4 models last year, including criticism that it provided misleading results on the benchmarks it used for early versions. It abandoned the release of the largest version of that model, called Behemoth, which had been due out in the summer. The superintelligence team has been working to reassert the company's standing this year by building a new model called Avocado, but the performance of that model has also lagged expectations.

Meta Weighs Widespread Layoffs as AI Spending Grows | 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 Friday (March 13) from Reuters, which noted that the cuts come as the tech giant looks to offset its heavy spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure, while also preparing for what it hopes will be more efficiency from AI-assisted workers. The company has not set a date for the job cuts and the scope of the layoffs is still not final, the report added, citing sources familiar with the matter. These sources, who spoke anonymously as they were not permitted to share the information, said that top executives at Meta had recently shared the plans with managers and told them to start figuring out how to cut back. "This is speculative reporting about theoretical approaches," Meta spokesperson Andy Stone told Reuters in response to queries about the plan. The report noted that if Meta does let go of 20% of its workforce, it will mark the largest round of layoffs since the company's "year of efficiency" cuts in 2022 and 2023. The company had nearly 79,000 workers at the end of 2025, per its most recent filing. Meta laid off 11,000 staffers in November 2022, or around 13% of its workforce, before cutting another 10,000 jobs a few months later. As Reuters pointed out, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has over the past year pushed the company to compete more forcefully in the AI space, offering massive compensation packages to attract leading AI researchers. The company has been making some acquisitions in the AI space. These include its planned purchase of Chinese startup Manus and, as of last week, Moltbook, a social networking platform for AI agents. The company also plans to spend between $115 billion and $135 billion this year as it races to construct "data centers, chips and infrastructure capable of supporting increasingly powerful AI models," as PYMNTS wrote last week. This is a level of spending that puts Meta in the company of some of the biggest investors in AI infrastructure, including Amazon, Google and Microsoft. "The difference is that those companies operate cloud businesses that directly monetize the computing power they build," the report added. "Training models for internal use is only one part of the equation. The same infrastructure can also be rented to thousands of enterprise customers. Meta does not have that outlet."

AI vs Jobs: Meta Considers Cutting Thousands of Roles to Fund AI Expansion

Meta Plans Major Layoffs to Fund AI Expansion as Tech Industry Restructures Workforce Artificial intelligence is changing the technology industry quickly. Many tech companies are now focusing more on AI development. This shift is also affecting jobs across the sector. Meta Platforms is reportedly considering cutting thousands of roles. The reason it has stated includes its increased spending on artificial intelligence. The company aims to expand its investments in AI tools, data centers, and computing resources. The development reflects a wider trend in the tech world. Multiple companies are reorganizing their employee base to establish AI research and development capabilities. Companies that dedicate billions to technology growth also proceed to downsize their workforces in different departments.

The Human Cost of Meta's AI Race

This decision is part of a major strategic transformation. Meta must absorb the colossal investments required for the development of artificial intelligence, particularly in computing infrastructure and data centers. At the same time, the rapid progress of AI tools allows for the automation of certain tasks previously performed by entire teams. The Scale of the Shock If these layoffs materialize, they would mark the most significant restructuring since the job cuts of 2022 and 2023. At the time, Meta eliminated about 11,000 jobs in November 2022, or 13% of its workforce, before announcing 10,000 new layoffs a few months later. Mark Zuckerberg had called this period the "year of efficiency," intended to streamline the group's internal structures after years of rapid growth. In a sector disrupted by AI, these mass layoffs signal a shift from crisis management to a strategy of sustainable efficiency. Meta remains cautious in its communication, however. Questioned by Reuters, group spokesperson Andy Stone called the reports "speculative," referring to theoretical scenarios rather than final decisions. Investing Billions, Saving on Humans To remain competitive in the AI race, Meta must invest colossal sums while reducing certain expenses related to human resources. The group notably plans up to $600bn in data center investments by 2028 to support the development of increasingly powerful artificial intelligence models. At the same time, Meta is increasing acquisitions in the sector. The company recently announced the purchase of Moltbook, a social platform designed for AI agents, and plans to invest at least $2bn in the Chinese AI startup Manus. Meanwhile, Meta is doing everything to attract the technological elite. The group has offered contracts that can reach several hundred million dollars over four years to recruit the most talented specialists for its new team dedicated to "superintelligence." A Silicon Valley in Structural Mutation Meta is not the only company in this situation. In January, Amazon announced the elimination of approximately 16,000 positions. For its part, the fintech company Block, led by Jack Dorsey, reduced its workforce by nearly half, explaining that artificial intelligence tools now make it possible to do more with smaller teams. These decisions reflect a structural evolution in Silicon Valley. Tech leaders are increasingly promoting a leaner and more flexible organizational model, in which automation and AI gradually replace certain human functions. The Risky Bet on Superintelligence The company has experienced several difficulties with its Llama 4 models, notably after criticism regarding the benchmarks used to measure their performance. Meta also abandoned the launch of the most ambitious version of the model, dubbed Behemoth, initially expected for the summer. To regain momentum, the team dedicated to superintelligence is currently working on a new model named Avocado. But according to several sources, the performance of this system remains below expectations for now, increasing pressure on research teams.

Meta planning sweeping layoffs as AI costs mount

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO, March 13 (Reuters) - Meta is planning sweeping layoffs that could affect 20% or more of the company, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, as Meta seeks to offset costly artificial intelligence infrastructure bets and prepare for greater efficiency brought about by AI-assisted workers. No date has been set for the cuts and the magnitude has not been finalized, the people said. Top executives have recently signaled the plans to other senior leaders at Meta and told them to begin planning how to pare back, two of the people said. The sources spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to disclose the cuts. Meta did not immediately comment. If Meta settles on the 20% figure, the layoffs will be the company's most significant since a restructuring in late 2022 and early 2023 that it dubbed the "year of efficiency." It employed nearly 79,000 people as of December 31, according to its latest filing. The company laid off 11,000 staffers in November 2022, or around 13% of its workforce at the time. Around four months later, it announced it was cutting another 10,000 jobs. ZUCKERBERG FOCUSING ON GENERATIVE AI Over the last year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been pushing Meta to compete more forcefully in generative AI. The company has offered huge pay packages, some worth hundreds of millions of dollars over four years, to court top AI researchers to a new superintelligence team. The company has said it plans to invest $600 billion to build data centers by 2028. Earlier this week, it acquired Moltbook, a social networking platform built for AI agents. Meta is also spending at least $2 billion to buy Chinese AI startup Manus, Reuters previously reported. Zuckerberg has alluded to efficiency gains from the investments, saying in January he was starting to see "projects that used to require big teams now be accomplished by a single very talented person." Meta's plans reflect a broader pattern among major U.S. companies, particularly in tech, this year. Executives have pointed to recent improvements in AI systems as one reason for the changes. In January, Amazon confirmed it would cut some 16,000 jobs, amounting to nearly 10% of its workforce. Last month, the fintech company Block chopped nearly half of its staff, with CEO Jack Dorsey explicitly pointing to AI tools and their growing capability to help companies do more with smaller teams. Meta's planned AI investments follow a series of setbacks with its Llama 4 models last year, including criticism that it provided misleading results on the benchmarks it used for early versions. It abandoned the release of the largest version of that model, called Behemoth, which had been due out in the summer. The superintelligence team has been working to reassert the company's standing this year by building a new model called Avocado, but the performance of that model has also lagged expectations. (Reporting by Deepa Seetharaman and Jeff Horwitz in San Francisco and Katie Paul in New York; editing by Kenneth Li, Rod Nickel) By Katie Paul, Jeff Horwitz and Deepa Seetharaman

Meta plans to lay off 20% of staff as AI costs rise: Report

Meta is reportedly planning a major round of layoffs that could affect about 20 per cent of its workforce as the company increases spending on artificial intelligence and looks for ways to become more efficient. People familiar with the matter, cited by Reuters, said the company has not yet set a timeline for the job cuts, and the exact number of affected employees has not been finalised. However, senior executives have recently informed other leaders within the company to begin planning how teams could be reduced. If the company proceeds with layoffs affecting 20 per cent of its staff, it would mark the largest workforce reduction since the company's restructuring in late 2022 and early 2023, as per the report. Meta employed nearly 79,000 people as of December 31, according to its latest filings. 'This is speculative reporting about theoretical approaches,' Meta spokesperson Andy Stone ⁠said. Also read: From garage to the world: Tim Cook pens emotional note before Apple turns 50 Meta previously laid off 11,000 employees in November 2022, or roughly 13 per cent of its workforce. About four months later, the company announced another round of cuts affecting around 10,000 employees. Over the past year, Zuckerberg has pushed the company to compete more aggressively in generative AI. Meta has also offered large compensation packages, some worth hundreds of millions of dollars over four years, to attract leading AI researchers to its superintelligence team. Also read: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says AI is not popular in US, here's why Meta intends to invest about $600 billion to build new data centres by 2028. Earlier this week, Meta acquired a social networking platform designed for AI agents called Moltbook. Meta is also spending at least $2 billion to acquire Chinese AI startup Manus, according to the report.