Meta is laying off hundreds of employees across Reality Labs and other groups

Mark Zuckerberg has pushed Meta to become more efficient. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images 2026-03-25T14:17:25.046Z Share Copy link Email Facebook WhatsApp X LinkedIn Bluesky Threads lighning bolt icon An icon in the shape of a lightning bolt.

Impact Link Save Saved Read in app Loading audio narration... This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in. Meta began laying off hundreds of employees on Wednesday. The company has made several rounds of layoffs in recent years as it has sought to become more efficient. At the same time, Meta has continued to pour billions of dollars into AI. AI-generated summary Summaries are generated by an AI model trained on Business Insider's articles. AI may make mistakes or provide inaccurate/incomplete information. We're unable to load that answer right now. Please try again. How is AI impacting job cuts? How does Meta's "AI for Work" operate? How does executive pay affect layoffs? What are Meta's AI investments? Why are Big Tech layoffs rising? Meta began laying off hundreds of employees across the company on Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the matter and LinkedIn posts from affected staff. The global cuts affected employees in Reality Labs, Facebook, recruiting, sales, and global operations, the source familiar said.A handful of employees who worked in Reality Labs and recruitment announced on LinkedIn that their roles had been eliminated, according to posts reviewed by Business Insider. "Teams across Meta regularly restructure or implement changes to ensure they're in the best position to achieve their goals. Where possible, we are finding other opportunities for employees whose positions may be impacted," a Meta spokesperson told Business Insider in a statement.Meta employed nearly 79,000 people at the end of 2025, meaning the cuts reflect a small percentage of its workforce. Earlier this month, Meta asked some managers to prepare cost-cutting plans, two senior employees previously told Business Insider. Some Meta employees in the company's wearables and ads units received a message on Tuesday instructing them to work from home on Wednesday, according to two sources who received it.Reuters first reported earlier this month that the company was considering cuts. The layoffs reflect a growing reality across Big Tech: costly AI investment is coming at the expense of some employee roles. This round of cost cutting comes as Meta pours hundreds of billions of dollars into AI infrastructure and building teams with top AI talent.Meta has also been promoting the use of AI internally. Andrew Bosworth, Meta's CTO, told staff on Tuesday that he would take over the company's "AI for Work" initiative, an effort to increase the company's adoption of AI tools internally, according to a memo reviewed by Business Insider and first reported by The Wall Street Journal. "Like many of you I've been captivated by the power AI has to transform our company and eager to unlock its power for each individual and team," Boz wrote in the note.The cuts also come as some of the company's top execs are set to receive huge pay increases tied to the company achieving "exceedingly aggressive" stock prices over five years. The latest layoffs in its Reality Labs and recruitment divisions were first reported by The Information.Big Tech layoffs keep comingSince 2023, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been pushing to improve the company's efficiency, and layoffs and cost cutting have been a broader trend across Big Tech companies in recent years. In January, Amazon said it would slash about 16,000 corporate roles, months after cutting 14,000. Microsoft said last year it would eliminate about 15,000 positions.Companies have also increasingly cited AI when announcing layoffs, including the recent 10% cuts at Atlassian and nearly 50% cuts at Block. So far in 2026, AI has been cited for 12,304 job cut announcements, or 8%, according to a March report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Meta's stock was up by more than 1% early Wednesday. Its stock price is down about 9% this year and more than 4% over the past 12 months.Have something to share? Contact this reporter via email at hlangley@businessinsider.com or Signal at 628-228-1836. Use a personal email address and a non-work device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.