Meta cuts 8,000 — record revenue same quarter, $145B for AI
TL;DR
Meta started laying off ~8,000 on May 20, plus 6,000 unfilled roles cancelled (14,000 total reduction). Same quarter: AI infra capex of $125–145B planned. Free cash flow to drop ~80% to $8.5B.
May 20, Meta started layoffs — ~8,000 staff, the largest single round since the 2023 «efficiency year». Plus 6,000 unfilled positions cancelled, actual workforce reduction ~14,000.
Ironically, this happens during the company's record financial performance — quarterly revenue $56.3B.
Where the money goes. Meta's 2026 AI infrastructure capex budget: $125–145B — nearly double last year. Layoffs save ~$7–8B annually, partly filling this bottomless pit. But the numbers tell the story: layoff savings nowhere close to enough — Meta Q1 costs +35% YoY to $33.4B, mostly driven by datacenter, depreciation, and cloud spend, not headcount. Free cash flow expected to crash from 2025's $43.6B to 2026's $8.5B — ~80% drop.
The laid-off, the rest. Another 7,000 employees transferred to new AI departments including Applied AI Engineering, Agent Transformation Accelerator — building AI agents that handle coding, research, analysis, internal ops.
Not just Meta. 2026 so far: over 137 tech companies have laid off 110K+. Average 825/day. Amazon cuts 16,000. Oracle cuts 30,000. Script is similar: record revenue, exploding AI capex, layoffs balance the books.
via The Next Web
Ironically, this happens during the company's record financial performance — quarterly revenue $56.3B.
Where the money goes. Meta's 2026 AI infrastructure capex budget: $125–145B — nearly double last year. Layoffs save ~$7–8B annually, partly filling this bottomless pit. But the numbers tell the story: layoff savings nowhere close to enough — Meta Q1 costs +35% YoY to $33.4B, mostly driven by datacenter, depreciation, and cloud spend, not headcount. Free cash flow expected to crash from 2025's $43.6B to 2026's $8.5B — ~80% drop.
The laid-off, the rest. Another 7,000 employees transferred to new AI departments including Applied AI Engineering, Agent Transformation Accelerator — building AI agents that handle coding, research, analysis, internal ops.
Not just Meta. 2026 so far: over 137 tech companies have laid off 110K+. Average 825/day. Amazon cuts 16,000. Oracle cuts 30,000. Script is similar: record revenue, exploding AI capex, layoffs balance the books.
via The Next Web
