Meta Platforms is reported to be cutting at least 20 per cent of its workforce to offset heavy spending on artificial intelligence. <\/p>\n
The owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp<\/a>, which employed about 79,000 people worldwide at the end of 2025, has spent heavily in recent years to catch up with rivals by building data centres and waging a talent war. It expects a capital outlay of up to $135 billion in 2026 \u2014 roughly double of last year\u2019s spending. <\/p>\n If Meta settles on the 20 per cent figure, the cuts will be the biggest since a restructuring in 2022-23<\/a> dubbed the \u201cyear of efficiency\u201d, which eliminated about 21,000 jobs.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is speculative reporting about theoretical approaches,\u201d a spokesperson for the company said.<\/p>\n A 20 per cent staff cut could amount to about $6 billion in cost savings, or a 5 per cent boost to adjusted core earnings, according to Barton Crocket, an analyst at Rosenblatt Securities.<\/p>\n \u201cThis doesn\u2019t have to stop at 20 per cent. There could be more down the road if AI is truly this impactful on staff productivity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Some analysts have noted that the layoffs also follow a period of over-hiring. Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI,<\/a> said last month that some companies were blaming AI for the job cuts they would have made anyway.<\/p>\n \u201cIs AI a convenient scapegoat for cuts that might have happened anyway? Perhaps. But we believe the market will quickly see through companies using AI as camouflage,\u201d Mark Shmulik, an analyst at Bernstein, said. <\/p>\n Business newsletter<\/p>\n The business editor\u2019s exclusive analysis of all the latest financial and economic news.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tSign up with one click<\/p>\n Investors have grown nervous about the scale of capital spending across the AI economy, with the combined outlay of Meta, Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft set to hit $700 billion this year.<\/p>\n Other large tech companies have announced job cuts this year.<\/p>\n