Meta confirmed the lay-offs but declined to comment further when contacted by Nine.com.au.
“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,” Meta’s chief people officer Janelle Gale said in an internal memo to employees.
“This is not an easy trade-off and it will mean letting go of people who have made meaningful contributions to Meta during their time here.”
Meta is expected to notify impacted staff on May 20.
It is understood that laid-off workers in the US will be offered severance packages which includes “16 weeks of base pay plus two weeks for every year of employment,” according to the memo.
Meta has embarked on an aggressive AI spending spree, including multi-billion dollar deals with AI partners and heavy investment in data centres.
And Zuckerberg has previously made it clear that the technology will fundamentally reshape the company.
“I think that 2026 is going to be the year that AI starts to dramatically change the way that we work,” Zuckerberg said in January.
Zuckerberg hinted at the time that AI meant companies like Meta could shrink their workforce and have the same output.
“We’re starting to see projects that used to require big teams now be accomplished by a single very talented person,” he said.
Meta has already slashed around 2000 jobs in smaller redundancy rounds this year.
Microsoft is also planning to cull thousands of workers.
The software giant is reportedly offering voluntary redundancies to thousands of workers in the US, amounting to around seven per cent of its workforce.
Microsoft confirmed today it would spend $25 billion in Australia on building its AI capacity by 2029.
“Australia has an enormous opportunity to translate AI into real economic growth and societal benefit,” said Microsoft chief executive and chairman Satya Nadella said.
“That is why we are making our largest investment in Australia to date, committing A$25 billion to expand AI and cloud capacity, strengthen cybersecurity, and expand access to digital skills across the country.”
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