The social media group Meta is apparently preparing a far-reaching wave of layoffs that could affect more than a fifth of all employees.
• Meta apparently before large-scale Job cuts
• AI investments should be compensated
• Higher productivity through artificial intelligence
Meta is apparently planning to lay off a large part of its workforce. This was reported to Reuters by three people familiar with the matter. The measure is intended to compensate for the enormous investments in AI infrastructure and to prepare the company for increased productivity through artificial intelligence.
According to the sources, neither a specific date nor the final extent of the layoffs has been determined. The informants spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to make the planned cuts public.
Senior management recently shared the plans with other senior executives at Meta and directed them to develop workforce reduction plans, two of the people said. However, Meta spokesman Andy Stone explained in response to a Reuters query that these were merely “speculations about theoretical procedures”.
Biggest restructuring since the “Year of Efficiency”
If Meta actually cuts 20 percent of jobs, it would be the largest round of layoffs since the restructuring in late 2022 and early 2023, which the company described as a “year of efficiency.” According to the latest company announcement, Meta employed almost 79,000 people as of December 31st.
In November 2022, the company had already laid off 11,000 employees, which corresponded to around 13 percent of the total workforce at the time. Around four months later, another 10,000 job cuts were announced.
Zuckerberg’s focus on generative AI
Last year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg pushed Meta to become more competitive in the field of generative artificial intelligence. The company offered generous compensation packages, some worth hundreds of millions of dollars over four years, to top researchers for a new team developing superintelligence.
Meta announced that it would invest a total of $600 billion in building data centers by 2028. Earlier this week, the group acquired Moltbook, a social networking platform for AI agents. Meta is also spending at least $2 billion to acquire Chinese AI startup Manus, Reuters previously reported.
Zuckerberg has already hinted at efficiency gains from these investments. In January, he said, according to the news outlet, that he was seeing early signs that “projects that in the past required a large team could now be brought to fruition by a single, very talented person.”
Industry-wide trend towards workforce reductions
Meta’s plans fit into a broader pattern among large US companies, particularly in the technology sector. Executives point to recent advances in AI systems as one reason for the changes.
In January, Amazon confirmed it would cut about 16,000 jobs, representing nearly 10 percent of its workforce. Last month, fintech company Block reduced its workforce by nearly half. CEO Jack Dorsey explicitly referred to AI tools and their growing ability to help companies achieve more with smaller teams.
Setbacks in AI models
Meta’s planned AI investments follow a series of setbacks with Llama 4 models last year. The company faced criticism for providing misleading results in early version benchmarks. The release of the largest version of this model, called Behemoth, which was scheduled for the summer, has been canceled.
The Superintelligence team is working to strengthen the company’s position this year by building a new model called Avocado. However, the performance of this model also fell short of expectations, according to Reuters.
In NASDAQ trading, Meta shares temporarily rose 1.87 percent to $624.47.
Editorial team finanzen.net
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