Meta Announces Major Job Cuts Amid AI Investment-Driven Restructuring
Meta Platforms made a significant announcement on April 23, 2026, stating it would lay off approximately 8,000 employees. This figure represents 10% of its workforce. Additionally, the company will close 6,000 open positions. This move comes as the social media titan restructures to balance the massive investments it’s making in artificial intelligence.
The job cuts were disclosed in an internal memo from Chief People Officer Janelle Gale. The layoffs will take effect on May 20, 2026. Gale wrote to employees, “We’re doing this as part of our continued effort to run the company more efficiently and to allow us to offset the other investments we’re making.”
These layoffs come as CEO Mark Zuckerberg continues to heavily invest in AI talent and infrastructure. This includes large language models and chatbots. Meta has warned investors that 2026 expenses will significantly increase to a range of $162 billion to $169 billion. This surge is driven by infrastructure costs and compensation for highly paid AI experts.
This marks Meta’s first major workforce reduction since 2023. At that time, the company laid off 21,000 employees in two separate rounds. Earlier in 2026, Meta had already cut between 10-15% of its Reality Labs division and shed approximately 700 positions across multiple divisions in March.
Affected U.S. employees will receive severance packages that include 16 weeks of base pay. They will also receive two additional weeks for each year of service, along with 18 months of COBRA health insurance coverage. The company will also provide job placement assistance and immigration support where applicable.
Source: Bloomberg