Meta announced to employees that it is planning on laying off around 10% of the entire company on May 20, according to an email.
Meta currently employs over 78,000 people worldwide, so the move will affect approximately 7,800 of the company’s staff. The company is also eliminating about 6,000 internal roles.
The memo, from chief people officer Janella Gale, states that the mass layoff is being done to “run the company more efficiently” and to allow it to offset other investments it is making.
While those “other investments” were unspecified, Meta has been spending hundreds of billions of dollars on AI, splashing out on huge data centers and compensation packages for top AI researchers. The company already implemented a smaller round of layoffs in March, impacting hundreds of employees.
Anyone impacted will receive an email on May 20 to both their work and personal accounts, the email said.
The announcement said that staff will be supported with generous severance, including 16 weeks’ base pay plus 2 weeks for every year of employment. Employees’ COBRA health coverage will also be covered for 18 months.
Meta declined to comment.
Read the full memo below:
Over the last few weeks we have been working on some changes to our organization that will result in us laying off around 10% of the company on May 20, and closing about 6,000 open roles. Normally, we would want to nail down more details before communicating about this broadly, but since this has leaked, I want to share what I can right now. I know this is unwelcome news and confirming this puts everyone in an uneasy state, but we feel this is the best path forward, given the circumstances.
We’re doing this as part of our continued effort to run the company more efficiently and to allow us to offset the other investments we’re making. This is not an easy tradeoff and it will mean letting go of people who have made meaningful contributions to Meta during their time here.
We will support those who are laid off with a generous severance package which, in the US, will include 16 weeks base pay plus two weeks for every year of employment. We will also cover the cost of COBRA health care coverage for US employees and their families for 18 months. Packages outside the US will be similar but vary by country, as will local timelines and processes. We will also offer career services to support people in finding another role, and immigration support for those who need it. We’ll share more of these details in a follow up post ahead of May 20.
For notifications, we will follow the same process we have before: on May 20, anyone who is impacted will receive an email to their work and personal accounts — please make sure your personal email is updated in Workday.
I know this leaves everyone with nearly a month of ambiguity which is incredibly unsettling. We will try to answer your questions here in the comments but as we’re still working through the details we aren’t able to share much more until later in May. Meanwhile, you can find more information on the People Portal which includes our standard FAQs and logistical details for layoffs.
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