Meta has officially begun its significant restructuring, with 8,000 employees laid off on Wednesday as part of a wider transformation tied to artificial intelligence. According to Bloomberg reports, the company dispatched notification emails in three regional waves starting at 4 AM local time, with the cuts and transfers affecting roughly 10% of its global workforce. Meta had 77,986 employees at the end of March before the latest restructuring began, making the 10% reduction potentially near 8,000 roles. The company had previously closed 6,000 open roles as part of the restructuring process, demonstrating the scale of the workforce reduction. As per Bloomberg, the overhaul comes as Meta pours billions into AI infrastructure and tools amid intensifying competition with OpenAI, Google and Microsoft. Singapore staff were among the first to receive notifications as early as 4 AM local time, with European and US-based staff expected to receive word early in their respective time zones.
Meta is transferring more than 7,000 employees into new AI-focused teams as part of its strategic shift, with the company planning to move roughly 7,000 employees into AI initiatives while eliminating layers of management and flattening organizational structures. As per Bloomberg, HR chief Janelle Gale's internal memo to North American staff outlined the company's evolution toward a leaner, AI-native organization. "As org leaders worked on the changes, many of them incorporated AI native design principles into their new org structures," Gale wrote, as reported by Bloomberg. "Many orgs can operate with a flatter structure with smaller teams of pods/cohorts that can move faster and with more ownership." Some of the employees being reassigned are moving into teams like Applied AI Engineering and Agent Transformation Accelerator, groups focused on building AI systems capable of autonomously performing workplace functions. The shake-up, along with previous transfers and role eliminations, will ultimately affect about 20% of Meta's workforce. Engineering and product teams are expected to be particularly hard hit in this latest round of cuts, with additional layoffs potentially coming later in the year according to people familiar with the company's plans.
The restructuring has left Meta employees both frustrated and anxious about the future of the company. More than a thousand employees have signed a petition addressed to CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other company leaders demanding that Meta refrain from collecting their data from devices for AI training purposes. The petition specifically targets granular data collection including keystrokes, mouse movements and screen content. Additionally, employees have taken to social media to post about how the threat of layoffs has impacted their work and morale. The changes have been particularly significant for Meta's workforce, with Zuckerberg pushing for increased efficiency and encouraging engineers to use AI agents to assist with coding and other tasks. The CEO has also outlined plans to track employees' devices to improve AI technology and has spent time coding his own AI-powered assistant to handle some CEO duties.
The layoffs are expected to help Meta save nearly US$3 billion annually in operating costs, according to analyst estimates reported by Bloomberg. However, the company's spending on AI infrastructure, including data centres and advanced chips, is projected to surge sharply this year, with estimates suggesting Meta could spend as much as US$145 billion on AI-related investments. The restructuring represents the latest phase of Meta's broader efficiency strategy, adding to multiple layoffs the company has announced since 2022 under CEO Mark Zuckerberg's "year of efficiency" strategy. The company had previously eliminated more than 20,000 jobs across separate restructuring rounds as slowing digital advertising growth and rising operational costs forced major technology firms to reassess hiring and spending patterns after the pandemic-era boom. Meta has committed well in excess of $100 billion to AI capital expenditures this year, with the company anticipating spending additional hundreds of billions on AI infrastructure before the end of the decade.
