Meta Begins 10% Workforce Reduction...Zuckerberg: "No Additional Company-Wide Layoffs This Year"

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on May 20 (local time), citing sources, that Meta Platforms began laying off 8,000 employees and reassigning 7,000 staff members to artificial intelligence (AI)-related work starting that morning.

According to the sources, employees in Asia and Europe, where the workday begins earlier than in the Americas, were the first to receive notifications regarding the restructuring that morning. Notifications were then delivered to employees in the Americas. The teams receiving the 7,000 reassigned staff members include the 'Applied AI' team, which focuses on optimizing AI models, as well as teams responsible for building AI agents that help automate workflow processes.

Meta AI logo. Reuters Yonhap News

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, sought to reassure employees in a memo sent the same day, stating, "I want to be clear that there will be no additional company-wide layoffs this year." However, according to the Financial Times (FT), this statement leaves open the possibility that Meta could still implement headcount reductions on a team-by-team basis.

Meta's management stated that this round of layoffs is intended to cut costs in response to increased investments in AI infrastructure. In its earnings announcement in April, Meta revealed plans to invest up to 145 billion dollars this year in building AI data centers and deploying chips. The company also noted that the optimal future size of the workforce remains uncertain.

WSJ reported that, in a recent internal meeting with employees, CEO Zuckerberg said, "Even if a team used to need 50 or 100 people, if now only 10 are required, keeping 50 or 100 people on that team in the future could actually be inefficient," adding, "So I think we need to fix that." According to sources, CEO Zuckerberg is convinced that AI technology can automate coding and engineering tasks, thereby streamlining workforce management.

Last month, Janelle Gale, Meta's Chief People Officer (CPO), informed employees that approximately 8,000 employees—around 10% of the total workforce—would be affected by the restructuring, and that a planned hiring drive for 6,000 new positions would also be canceled. In a follow-up announcement issued on May 18, CPO Gale added that, as part of the restructuring, 7,000 employees would be moved to new AI-related roles, and several managers would be transitioned to hands-on roles.

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