Meta begins laying off 8,000 employees, or 10% of its staff, in a push to become an AI-first company; another 7,000 workers will be reassigned to AI initiatives

Meta told employees last month that it would carry out mass layoffs on May 20, as the Silicon Valley giant tries to transform into an A.I.-first company.

New York Times 2026-05-20

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@sm_techb3aute @sm_techb3aute on x
Noticed a lot of senior employees at Meta are resigning right before big corporate layoff waves lately 👀 Genuinely curious... what's the strategy here? Because walking away days before layoffs usually means you're giving up things like severance eligibility and unemployment bene…
r/technology r on reddit
Meta Begins Laying Off 8,000 Employees Amid A.I. Transformation
r/technology r on reddit
Meta is rapidly reorganizing its workers' jobs around AI: 'Transfers aren't optional'
@politicopress @politicopress on x
EXCLUSIVE: OpenAI's top lobbyist is setting national AI policy state-by-state. “What we're trying to do is use a bunch of the big states to mirror each other to de facto create a national standard,” Chris Lehane told POLITICO. More from @BrendanBordelon: https://www.politico.com/…
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
am told that people hired as recently as a month ago are getting laid off.
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
sources knew it would be bad but am already hearing how much of a “bloodbath” it is at meta right now with layoffs and morale taking a brutalizing
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
in his email Zuckerberg says “we do not expect other company-wide layoffs this year” i think “company wide” is probably an important modifier here but we will see i guess
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
Zuckerberg just sent out a company wide email addressing the layoffs, which i've obtained from a few sources in it he expresses his “gratitude” and that it's “sad” to say goodbye to folks but that now is the most “dynamic” he's seen teh industry and that “success isnt a given”
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
this, in my opinion, is one of those moments where i think meta execs knew it would be a huge hit morale-wise and probably would be like 2023's “year of efficiency” for a while but could weather it perhaps b/c i'm too close to it re: sources, but vibes feel markedly worse
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
have been told indeed for the past month or so it's been hard for people at Meta to actually get any work done b/c why bother? also some would sign off meetings with gallows humor, joking about not knowing whether they'd all be there to finish a project https://x.com/...
@josh_avraham Josh Avraham on x
@MikeIsaac I think it'd be better for meta and employees if they just had fixed length contracts. Seems hard to get work done when company-wide layoffs are happening every month and your goal is to remain employed instead of accomplishing useful things
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
someone smarter than me relayed the point that in 2023, which MZ called “the year of efficiency,” some knew layoffs came amid an overall digital advertising industry downturn (see my '23 article below) contrast that with Meta reporting record revenues last quarter [image]
@waynema Wayne Ma on x
@SemiAnalysis_ Zuckerberg's post comes after Meta cut about 10% of its staff today. He added in the post that the move was was necessary for industry changes ahead.
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
full text of Mark Zuckerberg's memo to employees this morning, per sources (my signal username is MikeIsaac.38 if you work at Meta and want to get in touch) [image]
@semianalysis_ @semianalysis_ on x
Sources have told SemiAnalysis that Mark Zuckerberg posted internally at Meta this morning: “I want to be clear that we do not expect other company-wide layoffs this year.”

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Meta begins laying off 8,000 employees, or 10% of its staff, in a push to become an AI-first company; another 7,000 workers will be reassigned to AI initiatives

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