Meta is laying off 10 percent of its staff

Meta plans to lay off about 10 percent of its employees in May, according to a memo from the company’s chief human resources officer, Janelle Gale, published by Bloomberg. This means that around 8,000 people will see their jobs eliminated. Meta will also close about 6,000 vacant positions, according to Gale.

These 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 would spend between $115 billion and $135 billion in capital expenditures in 2026 – a significant increase from its $72.22 billion in capital expenditures for 2025. The increase is intended to “support our efforts and our core business of Meta Superintelligence Labs.” Earlier this year, Meta announced layoffs affecting hundreds of employees across its recruiting, social media and sales teams, as well as job cuts affecting about 10% of its Reality Labs division.

Gale wrote that Meta is “doing this as part of our ongoing efforts to run the company more efficiently and to allow us to offset other investments we are making. This is not an easy trade-off and will mean letting go of people who have made significant contributions to Meta during their time here.” Meta spokesperson Tracy Clayton confirmed that Bloomberg the report was accurate but otherwise declined to comment.

The personnel concerned will be informed on May 20. “I know this leaves everyone with almost a month of ambiguity, which is incredibly troubling,” Gale said, noting that “as we are still working out the details, we won’t be able to share much more until later in May.”

Reuters reported last week that Meta was targeting May 20 for layoffs, also saying further cuts were planned for the second half of 2026. In March, Reuters wrote that Meta was considering laying off 20 percent “or more” of the company.