Zuckerberg says Meta expects no more company-wide layoffs this year

Mark Zuckerberg told Meta employees that the company does not expect more company-wide layoffs this year, a message aimed at calming a workforce still absorbing one of the largest reorganizations in the company’s history. The memo came as Meta began cutting about 10% of its global staff, or roughly 8,000 jobs, while moving about 7,000 workers into new AI-related initiatives.

The reassurance carried a sharp edge. Zuckerberg also acknowledged that Meta had not been as clear as it should have been in its communications, an admission that underscored how much anxiety has built up inside Menlo Park after weeks of uncertainty over staffing plans. Employees responding to the memo picked up on the phrase company-wide, with one comment pointing to that wording and another warning that things can change unexpectedly.

Meta’s latest restructuring is tied directly to its AI push. The company said the changes would help improve AI workflows, and the cuts began on Wednesday, May 20, 2026. That shift fits a broader overhaul that has remade Meta’s business around artificial intelligence, internal automation and the expectation that more product and operations work will be done through AI agents.

The stakes are high because Meta is cutting staff while still spending heavily on infrastructure. In January 2026, the company said it expected capital expenditures of $115 billion to $135 billion for the year. By late April, Meta had raised that forecast again to $125 billion to $145 billion, reflecting the cost of building out the compute power and systems needed to compete in the AI race.

The memo also sits within a longer pattern of contraction at Meta. The company cut about 11,000 jobs in November 2022 and another 10,000 in March 2023 during what Zuckerberg called the company’s "Year of Efficiency." Meta had nearly 79,000 employees as of late 2025 and early 2026, so this round of cuts and transfers marks another major reset rather than a one-off adjustment.

For workers, Zuckerberg’s promise may reduce some immediate fear, but it does not erase the credibility gap created by repeated rounds of layoffs and sudden strategic pivots. Meta has declined to comment on the memo, leaving the company’s latest line in the sand to stand on its own: no more company-wide layoffs, for now, even as the business keeps reorganizing around AI.