Meta Platforms Inc. is alerting thousands of employees that they’re being laid off, part of a previously announced restructuring aimed at reducing costs while the company invests heavily in artificial intelligence.
The company notified workers around the world Wednesday morning, starting with employees across Asia, who got the note at 4 a.m. Singapore time. U.S.-based staff received word during their morning.
Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg posted internally Wednesday that the firm does “not expect other company-wide layoffs this year,” adding that it needs to do a better job communicating with employees, according to the memo, which was reviewed by Bloomberg News.
“This is the most dynamic I have seen our industry,” Zuckerberg wrote, adding that he’s optimistic about Meta’s position in the AI race and its ability to deliver AI superintelligence to users. “We’re transforming our company to make sure it will always be the best place for talented people to have the greatest impact.”
Employees were encouraged to work from home while the company cut roughly 8,000 roles globally. The latest round of cuts is expected to hit Meta’s engineering and product teams in particular, said people familiar with the company’s plans, who asked not to be named as the information is not public.
On Monday, Meta informed staff that some 7,000 workers have also been reassigned to newly formed teams that are focused on AI initiatives, including products and agents. The company, which has committed well in excess of $100 billion to AI capital expenditures this year, had just under 80,000 employees at the end of March, ahead of the reassignments and layoffs.
Zuckerberg has made AI the company’s top priority, committing all resources to keeping pace with rivals like Alphabet Inc.’s Google and OpenAI. That’s led to changes to Meta’s workforce and the way it operates. The company has gone through waves of layoffs over recent years, as Zuckerberg has pushed for increased efficiency. He has encouraged engineers to use AI agents to assist with coding and other tasks, outlined plans to track employees’ devices to improve the technology, and spent time coding his own AI-powered assistant to handle some of his CEO duties, like soliciting employee feedback.