Layoff emails first went to Singapore staff at 4 am local time; more regions to follow.
Engineering and product teams face the brunt; 7,000 others reassigned to AI units.
Savings from cuts seen as modest against Meta’s massive AI spending plans.
Meta has kicked off its latest round of layoffs that will impact roughly 8,000 employees worldwide, as the company reshapes its workforce to prioritise artificial intelligence (AI) and trim costs.
According to a report by Bloomberg, emails to affected staff began rolling out early Wednesday, starting with employees at Meta’s Singapore hub who received the notice at 4 am local time. Workers in Europe and the US are expected to hear in their respective time zones.
1 May 2026
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The move comes as the Mark Zuckerberg-led company commits well over $100 billion in AI capital expenditure this year, with more spending lined up over the rest of the decade.
What Changes for Teams
In an internal memo reviewed by Bloomberg, Meta’s Head of People Janelle Gale said many teams can now operate with a “flatter structure” made up of smaller pods that move faster and take greater ownership.
Employees have been encouraged to work from home as notifications go out. People familiar with the plan told Bloomberg that engineering and product teams are likely to be hit the hardest, and that further cuts later this year are possible.
At the end of March, Meta had just under 80,000 employees before the current reassignments and layoffs.
AI Shift Raising Employee Concerns?
Earlier this week, Meta informed staff that around 7,000 employees have been reassigned to newly formed teams focused on AI products and agents.
Zuckerberg has made AI the company’s top priority, urging engineers to use AI tools in coding and daily tasks, and pushing internal changes to speed up development. He has also spoken about using AI systems to gather feedback and improve productivity across teams.
The rapid shift has created anxiety among some employees. More than a thousand staff members have signed a petition addressed to Zuckerberg and the company’s leadership, opposing plans to collect detailed device data — including keystrokes, mouse movements and screen activity — to train AI systems.
Others have posted on social media about how repeated rounds of layoffs have hurt morale and focus at work.
Meta has described the layoffs as a way to “offset” part of its AI investment. However, the cuts may save about $3 billion, a small fraction of Meta’s projected capital expenditure of up to $145 billion this year, according to Bloomberg, citing analysts at Evercore.
Meanwhile, investors have voiced concern over whether such heavy AI spending will deliver returns, Bloomberg reported, even as Meta doubles down on building out its AI infrastructure.
