"Due to AI Investment Costs"... Meta Officially Announces 10% Workforce Reduction in May

Layoffs Scheduled for May 20
10% of Workforce to Be Cut...8,000 Employees Affected

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, is arriving in Seoul through the Seoul Gimpo Business Aviation Center in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, in 2024. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Meta, the operator of Facebook and Instagram, has officially announced that it will lay off about 10% of its total workforce next month in order to offset significant investment costs related to artificial intelligence (AI).

According to Bloomberg on April 23 (local time), Meta informed employees via a memo that layoffs will take place on May 20. The scale of the layoffs is expected to reach approximately 8,000 people, and the company has also canceled plans for 6,000 new hires that were originally scheduled.

Janelle Gale, Meta’s Chief Human Resources Officer, stated in an internal memo, “This is part of our ongoing efforts to operate the company more efficiently and to offset other investment expenses,” Bloomberg reported.

Gale added, “I understand this news is unwelcome and that confirming it makes everyone anxious, but considering the current situation, I believe this is the best course of action. We are still finalizing the details, so it will be difficult to share more specifics before the end of May.”

Severance pay, as announced in the internal memo, will consist of 16 weeks of base salary plus two weeks of pay for each year of service. In addition, the company will cover health insurance premiums for employees and their families for 18 months, and will offer job placement services and immigration support.

This round of layoffs comes as CEO Mark Zuckerberg is aggressively investing in talent and infrastructure needed for the development of cutting-edge AI products, including large language models and chatbots.

Meta is projecting record-high capital expenditures this year. As part of this, the company has announced several multi-billion dollar deals with AI partners over the past few months.

Other major technology companies are also undergoing restructuring due to large-scale investments in AI. Microsoft has reportedly offered voluntary early retirement to thousands of its U.S. employees for the same reason.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.