Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you.
Posted on 03/16/2026 8:35:55 AM PDT by lasereye
Meta Platforms may shrink its workforce by up to 20% in a sign that artificial-intelligence productivity gains are finally materializing.
According to a Reuters report from Friday, Meta has not finalized specific dates or details for cuts but is considering widespread reductions to its workforce. The company had nearly 79,000 employees as of its last annual filing.
A Meta spokesperson told Reuters, “This is speculative reporting about theoretical approaches.” The company didn’t respond to a MarketWatch request for comment.
But Wall Street seems encouraged that the company is thinking about paring back its staff. Shares are up 2.9% in Monday’s premarket action, after falling over 20% in the last six months on concerns of AI overspending.
Jefferies analyst Brent Thill wrote Sunday that a 20% reduction in headcount could increase Meta’s annualized revenue per employee to $3.5 million from $2.2 million a year ago.
Meta plans to spend up to $135 billion on AI investment in 2026 alone, so some on Wall Street see layoffs as a significant offset to the company’s heavy infrastructure spending.
Meta’s reported layoffs could drastically reshape how companies approach hiring, according to Thill. “If Meta is willing to reduce headcount at this scale while ramping AI investment, we think it signals a broader shift: AI is increasingly driving productivity,” Thill wrote.
Layoffs are happening at other software and internet companies to varying degrees. Last month, fintech company Block announced plans to cut its headcount to about 6,000 from over 10,000. That sparked a debate over whether AI is a genuine driver of efficiency or a convenient excuse for companies broadly looking to restructure. Both things may be true in Meta’s case, Thill noted, given a view that many Big Tech companies could operate with 25% to 50% fewer employees.
(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...
|
|
Click here: to donate by Credit Card Or here: to donate by PayPal Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794 Thank you very much and God bless you. |
Musk laid off ~80% of staff at X/Twitter after he acquired it, and operations barely hiccuped. These tech giants were/are a massive DEI jobs program.
They spend big on AI when no one or very few want AI ,LOL
Same progression every major tech advance goes through...
There may be a silver lining here. I would think this is an opportunity for non-tech companies to scoop up programmers to use these fancy AI tools. I think of the sports equipment boom in the 90’s to 2000’s when all the defense contractor material science engineers were laid off during the Clinton presidency.
elon didn’t need AI as an excuse to layoff 90% of twitter’s “work” force when he took it over ...
i seriously doubt AI is the real reason meta is laying off 20% ...
I read an article that Microsoft’s CEO said last year that 20-30% of the code they write is now being produced by AI, that percentage is sure to rise as the AI gains knowledge and experience.
It won’t be long before Microsoft and every other company that is in the software business starts laying off people like Meta
offshored to dot land ...
Our conversation this morning over coffee Was that in our long lives tech has done not much more than complicate our lives and make things more expensive or at least make for more to spend money on. Most of the benefits accrue to the sellers. Sorry but in the big picture of things that is how I see much of it.
After the first pass of personal computing and spread sheets, word processing, drafting and finger tip accessible information much of what follows is a stretch gimmick Most of the stuff on new cars is just stuff I don’t need and don’t use. Same for things like X and Meta.
I did not say all things but many.
Well, that was certainly productive use of skills.
It certainly helped my golf game lol. But in all seriousness I could see my own company scooping up some of these programmers to help us automate.
One of which was:
As I said, I see few of those benefits actually accrue to me. AI customer service anyone? Press X for whatever circular menus anyone? Great.
When I saw the headline, at first I thought it was about the Mets.
Microsoft stopped a planned expansion here in Redmond, Wa.
AI plus the rat thieves who last week passed an income tax bill that violates the state’s constitution are likely culprits.
The world has grown more complicated. Doing simple tasks like checking on medical records, billing and medication is increasingly difficult. Their website doesn’t like my browser. I have to sign in twice with the same username and password. It will never take it the first time. The captcha thingy where I pick out which picture has a bicycle in it disagrees with me. It goes on and on. What happened to talking to a person who could help you?
AI customer service anyone? Press X for whatever circular menus anyone? Great.
++++++++++++++++
The “tell me in few words....” ones are the worst. If I am calling one, I keep a portable AM radio on hand, tuned to a talk station. A few hits of random voice and I get switched to a human.
Non-tech companies should be wary of the big-company castoffs. Discernment is required.
Corporations have accumulated very large numbers of DEI hires who produce nothing. They have accumulated all sorts of procedures and activities which are useless even when the people doing them are hard-working and conscientious about their jobs.
Corporations are now dumping unnecessary people using "AI" as the justification.
Even so, there are people who will do better in small organizations than they were doing in the large organizations that discarded them.
Statement #1: There is no morality in logic
Statement #2: There is no morality in social media
Same with Bitcoin.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.