Meta Platforms will cut about 10% of its global workforce from 20 May, marking the start of a wider restructuring as the company increases spending on artificial intelligence (AI) and plans further layoffs later this year, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The company, which owns Facebook and Instagram is expected to lay off about 8,000 employees. More layoffs are expected later in the year, although the timing and scale have not yet been finalised. Meta declined to comment on the details of the planned cuts.
The company had previously been reported to be considering cuts of 20% or more of its workforce.
As of the end of December, Meta employed nearly 79,000 people.
Some staff are expected to be moved into new teams, including an “Applied AI” unit focused on building systems that can carry out complex tasks. Others may transfer to a recently created small business division.
Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg is investing heavily in AI as part of a broader shift in the company’s strategy. The firm plans to spend between $115 billion and $135 billion on AI, nearly double its previous capital spending.
In an internal memo, Chief People Officer Janelle Gale said the changes were linked to investment priorities. “This is not an easy tradeoff,” Gale wrote.
Zuckerberg has also pointed to the growing role of AI in reducing the need for large teams.
“We’re starting to see projects that used to require big teams now be accomplished by a single very talented person,” he said earlier this year.
Other large technology companies are also reducing staff while investing in AI. Amazon has cut around 30,000 corporate roles in recent months, while Block has reduced its workforce by nearly half.
Microsoft has said it will offer voluntary retirement to about 7% of its U.S. workforce.
At Microsoft, Chief Executive Satya Nadella has said AI is already improving productivity. The company estimates that AI now contributes to a significant share of its coding work.
Mustafa Suleyman, the firm’s AI CEO, has said the technology could replace most white-collar roles within the next 12 to 18 months.
Job cuts across the technology sector have continued to rise this year.
Layoffs.fyi, which tracks industry redundancies, reports that more than 73,000 workers have lost their jobs worldwide so far this year. The total for 2024 was around 153,000.
Meta’s latest cuts would be its largest since a major restructuring in 2022 and 2023, when it removed about 21,000 roles during what it called its “year of efficiency”.
Despite the planned layoffs, Meta said it remains financially stable. The company generated more than $200 billion in revenue last year and recorded a profit of $60 billion. Its shares have risen slightly since the start of the year, although they remain below a peak reached last summer.
Executives have said the company is aiming for a structure with fewer management layers and greater efficiency, supported by AI systems.
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Iran says no U.S. meeting is planned in Islamabad, despite Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arriving in the Pakistani capital. He is also set to visit Muscat and Moscow for regional consultations.
Residents in central Gaza are preparing to vote in municipal elections on Saturday (25 April), marking the first ballot in the Strip since 2006. The vote in Deir al-Balah is being watched closely as a rare indication of public sentiment, including towards Hamas.
Militants have staged coordinated attacks in Mali’s capital, Bamako, and several locations across the country, the army said on Saturday (25 April), in an assault apparently involving jihadist and Tuareg-led groups.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in Azerbaijan for talks with President Ilham Aliyev, holding meetings in Gabala on Saturday (25 April) during a working visit to the country.
The U.S. military is redirecting at least three Iranian-flagged tankers after intercepting them in Asian waters near India, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, shipping and security sources said on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Tehran said U.S. breaches, blockades and threats are undermining “genuine negotiations.”
Diplomatic efforts to end the Iran war are intensifying, with the White House confirming that U.S. President Donald Trump will send special envoy Steve Witkoff and adviser Jared Kushner to Islamabad for talks with Iran under Pakistani mediation.
Argentina has reiterated its interest in resuming talks with the United Kingdom over the Falkland Islands, a disputed archipelago in the South Atlantic, after reports that an internal Pentagon email suggested reviewing Washington’s support for the UK’s claim amid tensions over the Iran war.
Russian emergency services have contained a major fire at the Tuapse oil refinery on the Black Sea coast, local officials said on Thursday, ending a four-day effort after a Ukrainian drone strike.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in Azerbaijan for talks with President Ilham Aliyev, holding meetings in Gabala on Saturday (25 April) during a working visit to the country.
The United States has issued an international warning accusing Chinese firms, including AI start-up DeepSeek, of allegedly stealing intellectual property from American artificial intelligence labs.
President Donald Trump has warned that the U.S. could impose "big" tariffs on British goods if the UK does not remove its digital services tax. Speaking to reporters at the White House on Thursday, Trump said Washington was ready to act in response to the levy on major American technology firms.
China's domestic automakers have a message for the boardrooms of premium German brands such as Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW: We are coming for your customers, and we are armed with superior technology at a fraction of the cost.
Tim Cook, the tech boss who led Apple to become a $4 trillion company in its post-Steve Jobs era, is stepping down after 15 years in the top job. John Ternus, an Apple veteran of 25 years, who is currently the U.S. company’s Vice President of Hardware Engineering, will take over from September.
Netflix shares fell sharply on Friday after the streaming group issued a weaker-than-expected outlook and said chairman and co-founder Reed Hastings will step down from the board.
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