Meta is reportedly planning a major round of layoffs that could affect about 20 per cent of its workforce.
Meta employed nearly 79,000 people as of December 31, according to its latest filings.
If the company proceeds with layoffs affecting 20 per cent of its staff, it would mark the largest workforce reduction since the company’s restructuring in late 2022 and early 2023,
Meta is reportedly planning a major round of layoffs that could affect about 20 per cent of its workforce as the company increases spending on artificial intelligence and looks for ways to become more efficient. People familiar with the matter, cited by Reuters, said the company has not yet set a timeline for the job cuts, and the exact number of affected employees has not been finalised. However, senior executives have recently informed other leaders within the company to begin planning how teams could be reduced.
If the company proceeds with layoffs affecting 20 per cent of its staff, it would mark the largest workforce reduction since the company’s restructuring in late 2022 and early 2023, as per the report. Meta employed nearly 79,000 people as of December 31, according to its latest filings.
‘This is speculative reporting about theoretical approaches,’ Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said.
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Meta previously laid off 11,000 employees in November 2022, or roughly 13 per cent of its workforce. About four months later, the company announced another round of cuts affecting around 10,000 employees.
Over the past year, Zuckerberg has pushed the company to compete more aggressively in generative AI. Meta has also offered large compensation packages, some worth hundreds of millions of dollars over four years, to attract leading AI researchers to its superintelligence team.
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Meta intends to invest about $600 billion to build new data centres by 2028. Earlier this week, Meta acquired a social networking platform designed for AI agents called Moltbook. Meta is also spending at least $2 billion to acquire Chinese AI startup Manus, according to the report.
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