Meta shares jump after Reuters report on plans for layoffs of 20% or more
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STORY: Meta Platforms shares rose 3% in Monday morning trade.That was following a Reuters report that the social media giant plans to lay off 20% or more of its workforce...to offset heavy spending on AI and bet on productivity gains from the technology.If Meta settles on the 20% figure, the cuts will be the biggest since a late 2022 and early 2023 restructuring.That eliminated around 21,000 employees.After falling behind in the AI race, Meta has spent heavily in recent years to catch up by building data centers.It expects a capital outlay of up to $135 billion this year, roughly double of last year's spending.It's meant to secure the cloud capacity needed to train and run AI models.Meta's workforce totaled 79,000 at the end of December.On Friday in response to Reuters' request for comment it said, quote, "this is speculative reporting about theoretical approaches".AI-linked layoffs have been rising globally.Companies have announced more than 61,000 job cuts tied to AI...including Amazon and Australia's Wisetech since November.
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STORY: Meta Platforms shares rose 3% in Monday morning trade.That was following a Reuters report that the social media giant plans to lay off 20% or more of its workforce...to offset heavy spending on AI and bet on productivity gains from the technology.If Meta settles on the 20% figure, the cuts will be the biggest since a late 2022 and early 2023 restructuring.That eliminated around 21,000 employees.After falling behind in the AI race, Meta has spent heavily in recent years to catch up by building data centers.It expects a capital outlay of up to $135 billion this year, roughly double of last year's spending.It's meant to secure the cloud capacity needed to train and run AI models.Meta's workforce totaled 79,000 at the end of December.On Friday in response to Reuters' request for comment it said, quote, "this is speculative reporting about theoretical approaches".AI-linked layoffs have been rising globally.Companies have announced more than 61,000 job cuts tied to AI...including Amazon and Australia's Wisetech since November.