Meta is reportedly laying off several hundred employees across a range of segments amid plans to offset the costs of its high artificial intelligence spending by cutting staff.
Layoffs today affected segments including Facebook, global operations, sales, and its virtual reality arm Reality Labs, per The Information. Meta has been planning layoffs that could affect as much as 20% of the company, Reuters reported two weeks ago.
“Teams across Meta regularly restructure or implement changes to ensure they're in the best position to achieve their goals. Where possible, we are finding other opportunities for employees whose positions may be impacted,” Meta said in a statement.
Meta had also laid off around 10% of its staff in its Reality Labs segment in January. The company announced last week that its Horizon Worlds virtual reality platform would shut down in June, though it later said that existing user-created spaces would be maintained with limited support.
According to Meta, it had almost 79,000 employees at the end of 2025.
The layoffs come as Meta surges its investments in AI. It hired the staff of AI startup Dreamer this week, and acquired AI agent social network Moltbook earlier this month.
Meta’s capital spending will soar to US$115-135 billion in 2026, largely due to AI, the company said in January. At the high end, this would be nearly double the $72.22 billion it spent in 2025.
The company also said last week that it would roll out a slate of new AI content moderation tools, with the goal of cutting back on its use of third-party vendors.
Shares in Meta (NASDAQ: META) closed 0.3% higher at $594.89. Its market capitalisation is $1.50 trillion.
