Meta plans to cut about 10% of its global workforce from May, with around 8,000 jobs expected to go in an initial wave of layoffs as Mark Zuckerberg pushes the company deeper into artificial intelligence, according to people quoted by Reuters. The Facebook and Instagram owner is said to be preparing the first round of job cuts for 20 May, with further reductions under consideration for later in the year as it reshapes its business around AI.
The news came after a period in which Meta had already been through one of the most aggressive slimming-down exercises in Silicon Valley. In late 2022 and early 2023, the company shed about 21,000 roles in what Zuckerberg branded Meta's 'year of efficiency', a restructuring driven by a falling share price and the realisation that it had over-hired during the Covid boom. This time, there is no such crisis: Meta is profitable, growing, and still cutting.
