Zuckerberg Blames AI Capital Expenditure for Layoffs, Doesn't Rule Out Further Reductions
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg attributed the company's layoff plans to increasing capital expenditure in the AI sector and did not rule out the possibility of further workforce reductions in the future.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: May 1, 2026 at 16:53
- 🔍 Collected: May 1, 2026 at 17:02 (8 min after Published)
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: May 1, 2026 at 21:49 (4h 47m after Collected)
Central News Agency
(Central News Agency, New York, 30th comprehensive foreign report) Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, the parent company of social media giant Facebook, stated at an employee meeting today that the company's layoff plan is in response to the continuously escalating capital expenditure in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). At the same time, he did not rule out the possibility of further workforce reductions in the future.
Reuters reported that Zuckerberg pointed out at the employee meeting: "The company essentially has two major cost centers: computing infrastructure and people-related expenses."
Zuckerberg stated: "If we put more money into one area to serve the community, it means we have less money allocated to another area, which also means we really need to shrink the company a bit."
He further stated that this wave of layoffs is not related to Meta's reorganization of teams into an "AI-native" architecture, nor to the development of "AI agents" that can autonomously perform work tasks.
Meta recently announced an AI-oriented organizational transformation while remaining silent on the layoff plans. This, coupled with the company's plan to track employees' mouse movements, clicks, and keyboard habits to train AI agents, has caused strong dissatisfaction among employees.
Zuckerberg told employees: "Driving all internal employees to use AI tools or improve work efficiency is not the reason for the layoffs." But he later added that he would "observe subsequent trends" and said the company "will soon be able to share more information."
This is the first time Zuckerberg has directly addressed employees about the layoffs since Reuters first disclosed Meta's layoff plans in March.
Meta plans to lay off about 10% of its workforce on May 20 and intends to conduct further layoffs in the second half of the year. While Zuckerberg and other executives confirmed the May layoffs, they declined to comment on subsequent plans. (Compiler: Liu Shu-qin) 1150501
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(Central News Agency, New York, 30th comprehensive foreign report) Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, the parent company of social media giant Facebook, stated at an employee meeting today that the company's layoff plan is in response to the continuously escalating capital expenditure in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). At the same time, he did not rule out the possibility of further workforce reductions in the future.
Reuters reported that Zuckerberg pointed out at the employee meeting: "The company essentially has two major cost centers: computing infrastructure and people-related expenses."
Zuckerberg stated: "If we put more money into one area to serve the community, it means we have less money allocated to another area, which also means we really need to shrink the company a bit."
He further stated that this wave of layoffs is not related to Meta's reorganization of teams into an "AI-native" architecture, nor to the development of "AI agents" that can autonomously perform work tasks.
Meta recently announced an AI-oriented organizational transformation while remaining silent on the layoff plans. This, coupled with the company's plan to track employees' mouse movements, clicks, and keyboard habits to train AI agents, has caused strong dissatisfaction among employees.
Zuckerberg told employees: "Driving all internal employees to use AI tools or improve work efficiency is not the reason for the layoffs." But he later added that he would "observe subsequent trends" and said the company "will soon be able to share more information."
This is the first time Zuckerberg has directly addressed employees about the layoffs since Reuters first disclosed Meta's layoff plans in March.
Meta plans to lay off about 10% of its workforce on May 20 and intends to conduct further layoffs in the second half of the year. While Zuckerberg and other executives confirmed the May layoffs, they declined to comment on subsequent plans. (Compiler: Liu Shu-qin) 1150501
Choose to stand with facts, every sponsorship of yours is a power to protect press freedom.
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Text, images, and videos on this website may not be reproduced, publicly broadcast, or publicly transmitted and used without authorization.