Meta weighs drastic workforce decision after $135 billion guide

Meta Platforms (META) is seemingly weighing a sweeping workforce shake-up, according to a scathing caller report.

According to a Seeking Alpha study citing Reuters, Meta executives are exploring layoffs that could impact 20% oregon much of the company’s workforce, though the plans person not been finalized and nary timeline has been set.

However, successful responding to the report, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said those claims magnitude to “speculative reporting astir theoretical approaches.”

Be that arsenic it may, the discourse surrounding the cuts shows wherefore the speech is getting heated now.

Meta and different tech giants person been ramping up their AI investments.

The Facebook parent’s authoritative guidance successful its latest net study showed 2026 superior expenditures successful the $115 cardinal and $135 cardinal range, per Investing.com.

Meta said the unthinkable spending bump is driven chiefly by “increased concern to enactment our Meta Superintelligence Labs efforts and halfway business.”

On apical of that, it forecast full expenses for 2026 of $162 cardinal to $169 billion, chiefly linked to higher infrastructure costs and AI endowment hiring.

If these layoffs materialize, they could impact much than 15,000 workers, considering Meta had 79,000 employees astatine the extremity of past year.

If these layoffs spell through, the rationale would beryllium precise antithetic from that of emblematic cost-cutting layoffs.

Instead of sluggish request oregon slowing advertizing markets, the conversation’s astir AI-driven efficiency.

That dynamic has been playing retired with Meta implicit the past respective months.

• Jan. 12, 2026 — Reality Labs: Meta planned to chop 10% of the unit, equating to 1,500 jobs, linked to metaverse and VR projects.

• Oct. 22, 2025 — AI teams: Around 600 roles were chopped crossed FAIR, merchandise AI, and AI infrastructure arsenic Meta efficaciously reshaped the division.

• Apr. 24, 2025 — Reality Labs: Meta laid disconnected an undisclosed fig of Oculus Studios unit arsenic portion of broader ratio efforts.
  Source: Reuters

In fact, we could spell backmost to its “Year of Efficiency” restructuring, erstwhile it chopped much than 21,000 jobs crossed 2 rounds successful 2022 and 2023, portion besides scrapping 5,000 unfastened roles.

It’s important to enactment that Meta isn’t unsocial successful laying disconnected workers successful the AI space.

Amazon confirmed 16,000 firm occupation cuts successful January, and past different circular impacting its robotics part successful March.

Similarly, different tech companies person followed a akin playbook.

Autodesk announced it would chopped 7% of staff, Pinterest trimmed little than 15% of its workforce, and Atlassian announced 1,600 layoffs arsenic it looks to spell deeper into AI-driven products and endeavor software.