Meta Lays Off 10% of Staff, around 7,800 Employees, on May 20

Meta is cutting approximately 7,800 employees, 10% of its workforce, as part of a cost-cutting plan aimed at 'running the company more efficiently.' The impacted employees will receive at least 4 months of severance pay and two weeks of pay for each year worked.

META has announced it will cut approximately 8,000 employees — roughly 10% of its 78,000-person global workforce — with layoffs scheduled for May 20, 2026 . Affected workers will receive a minimum of four months of severance pay plus two weeks for each year of service. The company also confirmed it will leave an additional 6,000 open positions unfilled as part of the same restructuring.

The move is explicitly tied to META's accelerating AI investment agenda. The company has outlined $115-135 billion in capital expenditure for 2026 — its most ambitious infrastructure buildout ever — and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has framed the layoffs as a way to "run the company more efficiently" while redirecting headcount costs toward AI compute and research. Impacted departments include Reality Labs, recruiting, sales, and global operations. Analysts note this follows a pattern: Meta shed roughly 21,000 jobs in 2022-2023, then rapidly rehired, and is now trimming again as AI replaces some white-collar roles.

META shares dipped 2.4% to $671.75 on April 23 when the announcement was made, a muted reaction given the stock had already surged nearly 20% in the prior nine-day rally. The market's measured response suggests investors view the restructuring as a net positive — cost discipline freeing capital for AI that could drive long-term revenue growth. With 58 of 64 analysts maintaining Buy ratings, the consensus is that the layoffs reinforce Meta's operational leverage story rather than signal distress.