META
The layoff lever is back
Meta is preparing to start a fresh round of layoffs on May 20, according to Reuters sources, with the first wave expected to hit about 10% of its global workforce — roughly 8,000 employees. And because one round apparently isn’t enough, more cuts are expected later in 2026.
Why this matters
This is the classic Big Tech balancing act: spend like crazy on AI, then trim the parts of the organization that make the spreadsheet look like a horror movie. Meta pulled in more than $200 billion in revenue last year and still logged about $60 billion in profit, so this isn’t a survival story. It’s a margin-management story.
The investor angle
For shareholders, layoffs can be a bullish signal if they help Meta protect operating margins while it pours cash into AI infrastructure, chips, and Reality Labs. But they also hint that the company is still actively reworking its cost base, which means the AI arms race is not cheap — even for a company this big.
Big picture
Meta’s stock has already climbed 3.68% this year, but this move says management is still trying to squeeze more efficiency out of the beast. In other words: the company wants the growth story and the leaner expense structure. That’s the dream. The hard part is making both happen at once.