Meta cuts nearly 8,000 jobs as it tells workers it’s looking to be more efficient

Meta has announced plans to cut nearly 8,000 jobs, telling workers it’s looking to be more efficient. The tech giant said around 10pc of its workers will be laid off on Wednesday May 20 as part of a major shakeup. It is not yet known if the job losses will impact the company's Irish operation, which employs around 1,800 people. A spokesperson for Meta Ireland confirmed the accuracy of the report to RTÉ, but did not comment on any impact the job cuts will have in Ireland. “We’re doing this as part of our continued effort to run the company more efficiently and to allow us to offset the other investments we’re making,” Janelle Gale, Meta’s chief people officer, said in an internal memo shared by several media outlets Thursday. Meta’s stock fell $3.73, from $662.88 when the market opened to $659.15 per share by the closing bell Thursday. Meta decided to break the news to its employees weeks early after the company’s job-cutting plans were leaked to the press. “Normally, we would want to nail down more details before communicating about this broadly, but since this has leaked, I want to share what I can right now,” Gale said. Meta had nearly 79,000 employees at the start of the year, meaning roughly 7,900 workers will be laid off next month. The company also announced it would not hire new employees for the 6,000 open roles it had intended to fill. More layoffs are planned for the second half of the year, sources told Reuters, which first reported on the layoffs last week. Meta did not explain which investments it aimed to offset with the layoffs. But it is no secret that the company, like other tech firms, is pouring money into artificial intelligence. During a fourth-quarter earnings call in late January, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told investors, “We are now seeing a major AI acceleration. I expect 2026 to be a year where this wave accelerates even further on several fronts.” Meta said in a press release at the time that it is expected to spend $162 billion to $169 billion this year, which will mainly be spent on “infrastructure costs.” “The second-largest contributor to total expense growth is employee compensation, driven by investments in technical talent,” Meta said. “This includes 2026 hires to support our priority areas, particularly AI, as well as a full year of expenses from 2025 hires.” Meta’s chief people officer explained in her memo that those impacted by the layoffs will receive an email on May 20. “I know this is unwelcome news and confirming this puts everyone in an uneasy state, but we feel this is the best path forward, given the circumstances,” Gale told Meta employees. Meta is offering affected U.S. workers what it calls a “generous” severance package of 16 weeks' base pay plus two weeks for every year worked at the company. The severance package will also help with healthcare costs.