New York (AFP) – Meta began laying off roughly 8,000 employees Wednesday — about 10 percent of its global workforce — as co-founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg pushes to redirect resources toward an ambitious artificial intelligence agenda. According to Bloomberg, notifications went out beginning in the early morning hours, with Singapore-based workers among the first to be informed.
In addition to the cuts, Meta said in April it would cancel plans to hire 6,000 people and shift 7,000 other employees into AI workflow-related roles. In a memo to staff Wednesday, posted by Business Insider, Zuckerberg expressed thanks to departing employees and sought to reassure those remaining. “It’s always sad to say good-bye to people who have contributed to our mission and to building this company,” he wrote. “I feel the weight of that.”
Zuckerberg said he did not expect additional company-wide layoffs this year and acknowledged the company had fallen short in its communications with staff. He struck an optimistic tone about the company’s direction, saying Meta was “one of the few companies positioned to help define the future” and reaffirming his goal of delivering “personal superintelligence” to users worldwide.
The restructuring is the largest company-wide round of cuts since Zuckerberg’s 2022-2023 “Year of Efficiency” campaign, which eliminated roughly 21,000 positions. The move comes as Meta dramatically ramps up spending on AI infrastructure. Meta has forecasted capital expenditures to reach between $125 billion and $145 billion for the year — more than double the company’s 2025 outlay.
© 2024 AFP
