Meta Platforms Announces Layoffs at Washington State Offices, Details Unclear

Meta Platforms notified 168 employees in Washington state of upcoming layoffs, with roles based primarily in Seattle, Redmond, and Bellevue set to end May 29. The cuts target the wearables division within Reality Labs, affecting engineering, product management, manager, and recruiting positions across the company's AR/VR hardware and smart glasses teams.

The Washington reductions are part of a broader restructuring bringing total confirmed Washington-area cuts to 331 positions in the current round. A META spokesperson confirmed the company is "shifting some of our investment from Metaverse toward Wearables," with savings expected to be reinvested in that push. These cuts follow a January 2026 reduction of over 1,000 Reality Labs roles, marking Meta's second major headcount action in the division within three months.

The moves underscore Meta's strategic recalibration away from long-horizon metaverse hardware toward near-term consumer products like smart glasses. Reality Labs has accumulated billions in cumulative operating losses since 2021, and investors will be watching closely whether the accelerated wearables push translates into meaningful revenue traction or simply sustains the division's historically significant drag on META overall profitability.