Meta Planning 10% Workforce Reduction in May, Affecting Around 8,000 Employees

Meta is planning to layoff around 10 percent of employees in May, according to a memo from the company's chief people officer, Janelle Gale, published by Bloomberg. That means approximately 8,000 people will see their jobs cut. Meta will also be closing around 6,000 open roles, according to Gale. The cuts follow Meta's significant investments in AI, including spending huge sums to hire top talent and build data centers. The company forecast in January that it will spend $115 billion to $135 billion in capital expenditures in 2026 — a significant increase from its $72.22 billion in capital expenditures for 2025. The increase is to "support our Meta Superintelligence Labs efforts and core business." Earlier this year, Meta announced layoffs affecting hundreds of employees in its recruiting, social media, and sales teams, as well as cuts impacting about 10 percent of its Reality Labs division. Gale wrote that Meta is "doing this as part of our continued effort to run the company more efficiently and to allow us to offset the other investments we're making. This is not an easy tradeoff and it will mean letting go of people who have made meaningful contributions to Meta during their time here." Meta spokesperson Tracy Clayton confirmed that Bloomberg's report was accurate but otherwise declined to comment. Affected staffers will be notified on May 20th. "I know this leaves everyone with nearly a month of ambiguity which is incredibly unsettling," Gale said, noting that "as we're still working through the details we aren't able to share much more until later in May." Reuters reported last week that Meta was targeting May 20th for layoffs, also saying that further cuts are planned for the second half of 2026. In March, Reuters wrote that Meta was considering laying off 20 percent "or more" of the company.