Meta Cuts 8,000 Jobs to Fund $145 Billion AI Investment

Meta begins eliminating 8,000 jobs starting May 20, 2026, representing 10 percent of its global workforce, to fund $145 billion in capital expenditures focused on AI infrastructure in 2026. The company deployed the Model Capability Initiative, an internal tool tracking employee mouse movements and keystrokes to train AI models for task automation. Additional layoffs are planned for August 2026 and before year-end.

Meta workforce reduction

• ▪Additional layoffs at Meta are already being planned for August 2026
• ▪Meta eliminated 11,000 positions in late 2022 that eventually expanded to 21,000 cuts
• ▪The 8,000 positions Meta is eliminating represent about 10 percent of Meta's entire global workforce
• ▪Another wave of layoffs at Meta is expected before the end of 2026
• ▪Meta begins eliminating roughly 8,000 positions starting May 20, 2026

AI infrastructure spending

• ▪Meta raised its 2026 capital expenditure budget by up to $10 billion in April 2026
• ▪Meta's first quarter 2026 revenue growth of 33 percent was Meta's fastest pace since 2021
• ▪Meta's revenue grew 33 percent in the first quarter of 2026
• ▪Meta is spending as much as $145 billion on capital expenditures in 2026

Employee surveillance program

• ▪A petition circulating inside Meta urges Mark Zuckerberg to shut down the Model Capability Initiative
• ▪Meta's employee monitoring initiative is known internally as the Model Capability Initiative

Internal culture decline

• ▪Alexandr Wang is Meta's chief AI officer and is 28 years old
• ▪Meta's culture rating on Blind is down 39 percent from its peak
• ▪Meta's overall rating on Blind fell 25 percent from its peak in mid-2024

Industry-wide layoff trend

• ▪Cisco's stock jump of more than 13 percent on its layoff announcement day was Cisco's best single-day performance since 2011
• ▪Umesh Ramakrishnan is chief strategy officer at executive search firm Kingsley Gate
• ▪Nearly 110,000 workers have been laid off across 137 technology companies in 2026 as of May 19, 2026
• ▪Cisco's stock jumped more than 13 percent on the day Cisco announced its layoffs
• ▪More than 260,000 positions were eliminated across the technology industry in 2023
• ▪Leo Boussioux is an assistant professor at the University of Washington's Foster School of Business