Meta has a major plan to lay off employees again, this time expected to affect about 20% of the entire company. According to Reuters, this restructuring is to offset the significantly increased costs of AI infrastructure investments and to prepare for improving the efficiency of AI-skilled workers.
However, Meta has not officially confirmed this, and the exact timing of the layoffs remains unknown. Reuters cited information from three internal sources close to the matter.
This signal comes from senior Meta executives who informed department heads to start planning team downsizing. If Meta proceeds with a 20% workforce reduction, it would be the largest restructuring since late 2022 to early 2023, a period the company called the Year of Efficiency.
Meta's data shows the company had nearly 79,000 employees as of 31 December. Previously, Meta laid off 11,000 employees in November 2022, about 13% of staff at that time, and about four months later announced another 10,000 layoffs. Calculated against the current workforce, a 20% layoff would mean over ten thousand positions.
Over the past year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has pushed Meta to compete more seriously in Generative AI. The company has offered huge compensation packages, with some deals worth hundreds of millions of US dollars over four years, to attract top AI researchers to join the Superintelligence Labs development team.
Meta has also revealed plans to invest up to 600 billion US dollars by 2028 to build Data Centers to support AI growth.
Earlier this week, the company acquired Moltbook, a social network platform for AI Agents, and invested at least 2 billion US dollars to buy a Chinese AI startup named Manus.
Mark Zuckerberg also spoke about increased efficiency from AI investments, stating in January, “Projects that used to require large teams can now be accomplished by a single talented individual.”
Meta's plan reflects a trend seen in large US companies, especially in the tech sector this year. Many executives point to AI advancements as a key factor driving organizational restructuring.
For example, Amazon confirmed in January that it would lay off about 16,000 employees, nearly 10% of its workforce, while fintech company Block recently cut its staff by almost half. CEO Jack Dorsey clearly stated that more capable AI tools allow the company to accomplish more with a smaller team.
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