The company behind Facebook and Instagram has set May 20 as the date for its first major round of workforce reductions this year, according to three sources with knowledge of the plans.
Meta will eliminate roughly 8,000 positions worldwide during this initial phase, representing about 10% of its total workforce, one source revealed.
Company leadership is also preparing for additional workforce reductions during the latter half of the year, though the exact timing and scale of those cuts remain undetermined. Executives may modify their strategy based on developments in artificial intelligence technology, the sources indicated.
Meta representatives declined to provide details regarding the schedule or extent of the planned workforce reductions.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg is investing massive amounts of capital into AI technology as he works to fundamentally transform how his company operates, mirroring a trend seen across major U.S. corporations this year, especially within the technology industry.
Amazon has similarly reduced its corporate staff by 30,000 workers in recent months, cutting nearly 10% of its office-based employees, while financial technology firm Block eliminated almost half its workforce in February.
Leadership at both companies connected these workforce reductions to improved efficiency through artificial intelligence implementation.
According to Layoffs.fyi, which monitors technology sector job eliminations globally, 73,212 workers have been laid off this year so far. The total for 2024 reached 153,000.
These upcoming workforce reductions will mark Meta’s largest since its restructuring efforts in late 2022 and early 2023, which the company called its “year of efficiency,” when approximately 21,000 positions were eliminated. During that period, Meta’s stock price was declining sharply and the company was working to address unsustainable growth projections made during the COVID pandemic.
While the company enjoys stronger financial stability currently, leadership envisions a future with reduced management hierarchy and improved efficiency through AI-enhanced productivity.
Meta’s stock has increased 3.68% year-to-date, though it remains below the peak levels reached last summer. The company generated over $200 billion in revenue last year and achieved $60 billion in profit despite substantial AI investments.
The Menlo Park, California-based company had nearly 79,000 employees as of December 31, based on its most recent regulatory filing.
Recently, Meta has restructured teams within its Reality Labs division and moved engineers from various departments into a newly formed “Applied AI” organization focused on developing autonomous AI agents capable of coding and handling complex tasks independently.
According to one source, some employees will also transfer to Meta Small Business, a division established last month, as part of the organizational changes.
