Meta lays off hundreds of employees, reallocating funds to AI

Meta is conducting large-scale personnel reductions affecting hundreds of employees across multiple divisions simultaneously. This is confirmed by The New York Times, NBC News, and The Information. Recruitment teams, sales, social media operations, and employees at Reality Labs—the division developing the company's smart glasses and VR headsets—have been hit by the cuts.

According to the NYT, this involves approximately 700 people, while at the same time top executives received substantial bonuses. The company's official position appears measured. Press secretary Tracy Clayton stated that Meta teams "regularly conduct restructuring" to remain in the best position to achieve their goals, and that the company seeks alternative positions for affected employees where possible.

The company representative declined to provide more detailed comments. Context matters: in recent months, Meta has been actively reorienting resources toward AI. Mark Zuckerberg announced 2025 as the "Year of AI" for the company, investing tens of billions of dollars in infrastructure and hiring AI specialists.

In parallel, areas related to the metaverse and VR are receiving lower priority, though Reality Labs formally continues its work—in particular, on Ray-Ban Meta glasses, which have become one of the few commercial successes of the division. Reductions in recruiting appear especially telling: when a company hires fewer people for regular positions, recruiters are first in line to leave. This indirectly signals that extensive workforce expansion is giving way to targeted hiring for specific AI tasks.

For the industry, Meta's move is another reminder that the AI race is reshaping not only products but also staffing priorities of the largest technology companies. Resources are flowing to where companies see the next competitive advantage, while traditional operational functions are being reduced.