Meta, the giant Internet company based in Mountain View, has laid off 8,000 employees or 10% of its workforce.
The company is the parent of Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp and Threads.
According to Business Insider, Meta employees losing their jobs are receiving 16 weeks of severance pay plus two additional weeks for each year worked with the company. In addition, employees will get 18 months of paid Cobra health insurance coverage. Unvested stock units will be forfeited but earned units and leave will be paid out.
Layoffs come with Meta continuing to report record revenues. In the first quarter of 2026, Meta reported revenues of $56.3 billion, a 33% increase from the year before. Net income was $26.7 billion or 61% higher than last year. Over 3.56 billion people used one of Meta’s products on a daily basis.
Expenses, however, are surging at the company due to AI and data center expansion. The company says it anticipates 2026 capital expenditures, including principal payments on finance leases, to be in the range of $125-145 billion, an increase from the prior range of $115-135 billion.
According to company filings, the median employee salary at Meta was $388,200 in 2025.
