Meta lays off 8,000 (10% of staff) to fund $115B+ AI investments

Meta notified thousands of employees this week that they have been laid off as part of a planned headcount reduction. The cuts affect approximately 8,000 people — around 10 percent of Meta’s 78,000-strong workforce. In an internal email shared by Business Insider, Meta management said the layoffs were part of a “continued effort to run the company more efficiently and to allow us to offset the other investments we’re making.” The layoffs follow Meta’s January capital expenditure forecast of $115 billion to $135 billion in 2026, which will be used to “support our Meta Superintelligence Labs efforts and core business.” That spend is nearly double the $72.22 billion the company spent in 2025.

Alongside cutting active roles, Meta is moving more than 7,000 staffers to work on new AI initiatives and closing 6,000 open roles, according to Bloomberg. Reports of the layoffs first surfaced in March, when Meta was believed to be cutting up to 20 percent of its total headcount. Some impacted employees have shared their layoff notices on LinkedIn, with one former employee noting she was let go alongside “8,000 metamates.” Meta said in the memo to laid-off staff, “We want to say again that we’re grateful for your contributions. Your impact at Meta has been an important part of our story.” The Verge has reached out to Meta for confirmation.