Meta Cuts 700 Jobs, Pours $167B Into AI – The Metaverse Era Is Over
Meta lays off 700 from Reality Labs and other teams while planning $135B in AI infrastructure spending. Since 2022, Zuckerberg has cut 25,000 jobs. The biggest AI pivot in tech history.
25,000. That Is How Many People Meta Has Fired Since 2022.
On March 25, Meta swung the axe again. About 700 employees across Reality Labs, recruiting, sales, and Facebook divisions were let go. This is the second mass layoff this year alone, following January's cut of over 1,000, which hit roughly 10% of Reality Labs.
According to Fortune, the cumulative headcount reduction since Zuckerberg's "Year of Efficiency" in 2022 has reached 25,000 people.
Meanwhile, where is the money going? Into AI. $167 billion worth this year.
The Context – From Metaverse to AI
In 2021, Zuckerberg renamed Facebook to Meta and bet the company on the metaverse. Reality Labs burned through billions, spending $13.7 billion in 2022 alone. The results were brutal. Quest headset sales disappointed. Horizon Worlds had embarrassingly low user numbers. Investors revolted, and Meta's market cap cratered 70% by late 2022.
Zuckerberg's response was dramatic. The 2023 "Year of Efficiency" saw 11,000 layoffs. In 2025, Meta acquired Scale AI for $14.3 billion, bringing CEO Alexandr Wang in as Meta's Chief AI Officer to lead the newly formed Meta Superintelligence Labs.
| Year | Strategy | AI Investment | Layoffs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Metaverse all-in | – | – |
| 2022 | Reality Labs focus | $13.7B (total capex) | – |
| 2023 | Year of Efficiency | $28B (capex) | 11,000+ |
| 2024 | AI acceleration | $38B (capex) | 5,000+ |
| 2025 | Scale AI acquisition | $65B (capex) | 4,000+ |
| 2026 | AI Superintelligence | $135B (AI capex) | 1,700+ (ongoing) |
The numbers tell the story. Total capex in 2022 was $13.7B. In 2026, AI infrastructure alone is $135B. A 10x increase.
Where $167B Goes
The bulk of Meta's $135B capital expenditure is flowing into AI data centers, GPU clusters, and network infrastructure. This is larger than the defense budgets of most nations. Meta needs this compute to keep pace with OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic in a race where raw computing power is itself a competitive advantage.
SEC filings revealed that four senior executives received stock options worth up to $921 million each. These options only vest if Meta's stock nearly doubles within five years, tying executive wealth directly to the success of the AI pivot.
The Bigger Picture – Big Tech's "Cut and Invest" Pattern
Meta is not alone. This same week, Atlassian announced it is cutting 10% of its workforce, about 1,600 employees, to redirect resources toward AI. This is a pattern repeating across Big Tech since 2023: reduce non-AI headcount, pour the savings into AI.
The risk is real. If AI investment does not generate the expected returns, these companies will have lost both their people and their capital.
$167B. That single number tells you everything about where Meta is headed. The metaverse is done. AI is everything now.
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