Meta eyes first wave of layoffs on May 20: Report

Layoffs plan and scale

The company is aiming to slash 10 percent of its current workforce, or lay off around 8,000 employees, in the first wave.

This will likely be followed by a second round in the latter half of the year.

Reuters had earlier reported that Meta was planning to cut up to 20 percent of its workforce.

AI push behind restructuring

The layoffs are aimed at offsetting the rising cost of artificial intelligence infrastructure and preparing for higher efficiency driven by AI-assisted operations, the report said.

If implemented, the move would mark another major restructuring exercise for the company since its layoffs in late 2022 and early 2023—a period that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had described as the “year of efficiency.”

Past layoffs and workforce size

In November 2022, Meta cut 11,000 jobs, roughly 13 percent of its workforce, followed by another 10,000 layoffs four months later.

According to its latest regulatory filing, Meta employed nearly 79,000 people as of December 31.

Aggressive AI investments

Over the past year, Zuckerberg has been pushing the company to compete more aggressively in the generative AI race.

As part of that strategy, Meta has offered lucrative pay packages to attract top AI researchers for a new superintelligence team focused on developing advanced systems.

The company is also reportedly planning to invest $600 billion in building data centres by 2028.

In addition, Meta has taken steps such as acquiring AI-focused platforms and is reportedly pursuing multi-billion-dollar deals to strengthen its artificial intelligence capabilities.

Efficiency gains

Highlighting efficiency gains from these investments, Zuckerberg earlier said he has begun seeing signs since January that “a single very talented person can accomplish a project that earlier required large teams.”