Meta is reportedly considering a large round of layoffs that could impact 20% or more of its workforce, according to sources familiar with the discussions. The move is being evaluated as the company continues to spend heavily on artificial intelligence infrastructure while also looking to improve efficiency through AI-driven tools.
No final decision has been made on the timing or the exact scale of the potential cuts. However, several senior leaders inside the company have recently been informed about the possibility and asked to begin reviewing areas where staff reductions could take place, the sources said. They requested anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss internal planning.
Responding to the reports, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said the claims were speculative and based on hypothetical scenarios rather than confirmed plans.
If Meta ultimately proceeds with layoffs affecting around 20% of its workforce, it would represent the company’s largest job reduction since the restructuring effort in 2022 and 2023 that CEO Mark Zuckerberg described as the “year of efficiency.” Meta had nearly 79,000 employees at the end of last year.
During that earlier restructuring, the company eliminated about 11,000 jobs in November 2022, roughly 13% of its workforce at the time. A few months later, Meta announced an additional round of 10,000 layoffs as part of its broader cost-cutting plan.
Over the past year, Zuckerberg has been pushing the company to move more aggressively into generative AI. Meta has reportedly offered very large compensation packages—sometimes worth hundreds of millions of dollars over several years—to attract leading AI researchers to a newly formed superintelligence research group.
The company is also planning massive infrastructure investments to support AI development. Meta has said it intends to spend around $600 billion on data center construction by 2028. In addition, it recently acquired Moltbook, a social networking platform designed for AI agents, and is reportedly investing at least $2 billion to purchase the Chinese AI startup Manus.
Zuckerberg has suggested that advances in AI could allow companies to operate with smaller teams. Earlier this year, he noted that projects that once required large groups of engineers can now sometimes be handled by a single highly skilled developer using AI tools.
Meta’s internal discussions mirror a broader trend across major U.S. technology companies, many of which are reshaping their workforces as AI capabilities improve. For example, Amazon announced plans earlier this year to cut around 16,000 jobs, while fintech firm Block Inc. recently reduced nearly half of its workforce, with CEO Jack Dorsey pointing to AI tools as a factor enabling leaner teams.
At the same time, Meta’s aggressive push into AI comes after a challenging period for its Llama 4 models last year. The company faced criticism over benchmark results associated with early versions and eventually cancelled the release of its largest planned model, known internally as Behemoth, which had been scheduled for launch during the summer.
Meta’s superintelligence team has since been working on a new model called Avocado, though reports indicate its performance has not yet met expectations.
Also Read: Meta Acquires AI Agent Social Network Moltbook, Founders Join Superintelligence Labs
