NEW YORK – Meta is reportedly planning large-scale layoffs that could affect 20% or more jobs, three sources familiar with the situation told Reuters.
The company is trying to offset the high costs of artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and increase the efficiency that AI-supported workers are expected to bring. The date and scope of the layoffs have not yet been determined. In recent weeks, management has hinted at the plans to other managers and asked them to start preparing austerity measures, two sources said. “It is speculative information regarding hypothetical measures,” responded Meta spokesman Andy Stone.
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Mark Zuckerberg (Source: TASR/AP/Ryan Sun)
If Meta decided to reduce the number of jobs by 20%, it would be the largest layoff since the restructuring of the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023. As of December 31, the company employed almost 79,000 people. In November 2022, it laid off 11,000 employees (about 13% of the workforce) and four months later announced the elimination of another 10,000 jobs.
Extremely high salaries as a lure for top researchers
The head of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, pushed for a more aggressive approach in the field of generative AI in the past year. Meta is offering extremely high salaries, in some cases worth hundreds of millions of dollars over four years, to attract top researchers to the new superintelligence team.
The company plans to invest 600 billion USD (522.83 billion euros) in the construction of data centers by 2028. This week it bought Moltbook, a platform for AI agents, and according to earlier information, the acquisition of Chinese AI startup Manus will cost it at least $2 billion. Zuckerberg had previously signaled that the investments would bring greater efficiency when he said in January that “projects that once required large teams can now be handled by one very talented person”.
