Meta has not set a date or finalized the size of the cuts. Spokesman Andy Stone described the report as “speculative reporting about theoretical approaches.” Based on the company’s reported year-end headcount, a 20% reduction would amount to about 15,800 jobs.
Why Meta layoffs are back in focus
In its fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 results, Meta told investors it expects 2026 capital expenditures of $115 billion to $135 billion and total expenses of $162 billion to $169 billion, with much of the increase tied to infrastructure and technical talent for AI. In its latest annual report, the company said it ended 2025 with 78,865 employees and warned that its AI initiatives would require more infrastructure and headcount even as it keeps pursuing efficiency.
The spending ramp has coincided with execution pressure. A separate Reuters report on the delayed rollout of Meta’s Avocado AI model said the system slipped to at least May after lagging top rival offerings, underscoring how expensive the AI race has become even before Meta can show a clear return on that investment.
Another sign of tighter cost control surfaced in February, when Reuters reported Meta cut annual stock awards by about 5% for most employees as Zuckerberg continued pouring billions into AI. That combination of heavier infrastructure spending, pressure on compensation and the promise of AI-driven productivity helps explain why payroll cuts are back on the table.
Meta layoffs fit a longer restructuring arc
The possible cuts would not mark a break with Meta’s recent playbook so much as an escalation of it. The company cut 11,000 jobs in November 2022 as advertising weakened and metaverse spending ballooned, then announced another 10,000 layoffs in March 2023 during what Zuckerberg called the “year of efficiency.”
This time, though, the backdrop is different. Meta is not just trimming after an advertising slowdown. It is trying to fund a capital-intensive AI buildout while convincing investors that the same technology will let it ship products faster, flatten management layers and rely on fewer people to do the same amount of work.
Whether the plan lands at 20% or something smaller, the message is the same: Meta’s next phase appears less about broad hiring and more about concentrating spending on chips, data centers and elite AI talent while cutting roles executives believe software can absorb.
