Meta Surges 3% Pre-Market on Speculative Layoff Plans and AI Investments

Meta stock experienced a bump in pre-market trading on Monday, following what the company described as “speculative” reports indicating plans for significant workforce reductions. The tech giant is reportedly considering layoffs that could impact over 20% of its employees, a move seen as an effort to balance substantial AI spending projected for this year.

Sources familiar with the matter, speaking anonymously to Reuters, reported on Saturday that Meta’s top executives had instructed senior leadership to devise plans for reducing headcount. This news comes after the company’s shares saw a nearly 4% decline on Friday. In premarket trading, Meta’s stock was up 2.7% as of 6:16 a.m. ET.

As of December 2025, Meta employed approximately 79,000 individuals. A layoff of the magnitude suggested in these reports could affect more than 15,000 workers. Such a reduction would mark Meta’s most extensive job cuts since late 2022, when CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a strategic cost-cutting initiative that included laying off 11,000 employees and scaling back hiring.

When questioned about the accuracy of the Reuters report, a spokesperson for Meta provided CNBC with the statement: “This is a speculative report about theoretical approaches.”

These potential job cuts at Meta occur as the technology giant aggressively invests in building its artificial intelligence infrastructure and seeks to harness AI-driven efficiency gains across its operations.

The trend of AI-related workforce restructuring is becoming increasingly apparent across the tech sector. Earlier in 2026, Jack Dorsey’s Block announced it would lay off approximately 4,000 employees. The company cited a need to “move faster with smaller, highly talented teams using AI to automate more work.”

Meta’s fourth-quarter earnings report in January revealed a significant commitment to AI, with capital expenditures projected to range between $115 billion and $135 billion for the current year. This substantial investment, nearly doubling the expenditure from 2025, is dedicated to bolstering its burgeoning AI division.

This aggressive AI investment from Meta is part of a broader trend among technology hyperscalers. Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft are collectively planning to invest upwards of $700 billion in AI initiatives this year, underscoring the transformative potential seen in the technology.

However, the scale of these AI investments has prompted concerns among some investors regarding their long-term sustainability and the return on investment, particularly when juxtaposed with current AI-generated revenue streams.

Mark Zuckerberg has characterized 2026 as a pivotal year for AI development within Meta, emphasizing the company’s strategic focus on realizing his vision of “building personal super intelligence.” This ambition was further highlighted by Meta’s $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI last year, a move that also saw the company recruit Scale AI’s CEO, Alexandr Wang, and a contingent of its top engineers and researchers.

Analysts at Jefferies noted in a recent research report that if Meta proceeds with significant headcount reductions while simultaneously increasing AI investment, it signals a fundamental shift in the industry. “We think it signals a broader shift: AI is increasingly driving productivity,” the analysts stated, adding that this has “important implications not just for Meta, but across the broader internet/software landscape as investors revisit the link between headcount, growth, and margins… these cuts are clearly being considered in part to offset rising AI infrastructure costs with significant AI-driven capex ramp.” This suggests that AI adoption is not only about enhancing efficiency but also about recalibrating operational costs in the face of escalating infrastructure demands.