Meta has initiated a new round of significant workforce reductions, impacting hundreds of employees across multiple departments. This latest restructuring primarily affects personnel within Reality Labs, the division dedicated to the development of smart glasses and virtual reality headsets, alongside teams in recruiting, social media, and sales.
Reports from reputable outlets such as The New York Times, NBC News, and The Information confirm these company-wide job cuts.
In an emailed statement to The Verge, Meta spokesperson Tracy Clayton addressed the changes, explaining, “Teams across Meta regularly restructure or implement changes to ensure they’re in the best position to achieve their goals.” She further added a commitment to employee support, stating, “Where possible, we are finding other opportunities for employees whose positions may be impacted.”
Ms. Clayton refrained from disclosing the exact number of roles affected by this recent wave of layoffs. As of December 2025, Meta's global workforce stood at nearly 79,000 employees.
This period of adjustments coincides with Meta's recent strategic shift, as the company has increasingly distanced itself from its "metaverse" branding. Concurrently, Meta is making substantial investments in artificial intelligence, with projections indicating expenditures of up to $135 billion towards its AI data center buildout and a significant agreement to incorporate Arm’s inaugural CPU within these systems.
These recent layoffs follow a series of earlier strategic realignments within the company. In January, Meta previously reduced its Reality Labs team by at least 1,000 workers, shut down three VR studios, discontinued its work-focused metaverse platform, and ceased new content development for its VR fitness application, Supernatural. Furthermore, in February, Meta initially announced the impending shutdown of the virtual reality version of its 3D social platform, Horizon Worlds, only to reverse this decision weeks later, confirming its continued availability for download “for the foreseeable future.”
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