Mark Zuckerberg has done something unusual for a CEO who built a reputation on moving fast and breaking things: he admitted the breaking part went too far.
The Meta chief acknowledged on June 12 that the company made mistakes during its aggressive restructuring around artificial intelligence, a pivot that has resulted in roughly 8,000 employees losing their jobs. That’s about 10% of Meta’s total workforce, which stood somewhere around 78,000 to 80,000 in early 2026.
On top of the layoffs, another 7,000 employees have been reassigned to AI-related projects. Meta didn’t just trim the roster, it fundamentally rewired who does what inside one of the world’s largest tech companies.
The messy middle of a massive pivot
The layoffs began in mid-May 2026 and have unfolded rapidly. The driving force behind the cuts is straightforward: AI infrastructure is expensive, and Meta needed to free up cash to keep spending on it.
