Meta slashes 8,000 jobs, or 10% of its workforce, as Microsoft offers buyouts 90%
By MATT O'BRIEN0% BARBARA ORTUTAY0%
4/24/2026, 1:57:27 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 16 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Authority, Post Hoc (False Cause), and Pessimism Bias, with Framing Effect as the most egregious example at 26.4% saturation with 118 hits. Analysis detected 740 faulty-reasoning hits from 447 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 82.9% and a BS Rank of 90% (2,324 of 21,887 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 89.40% of the article peer group.
By MATT O'BRIEN and BARBARA ORTUTAY
Updated 3:53 PM PDT, April 23, 2026
A photograph taken during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 19, 2025, shows the logo of Meta, the US company that owns and operates Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp.
(Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP) (Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)
Meta is laying off about 8,000 workers, or about 10% of its workforce, the company said Thursday as it continues to ramp up spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure and highly paid AI-expert hires.
The company said it was making the cuts for the sake of efficiency and to allow new investments in parts of its business, as first reported by Bloomberg, which also said the company will leave about 6,000 jobs unfilled.
Also Thursday, Microsoft said it was offering voluntary buyouts to thousands of its U.S. employees.
The software giant plans to make the offers in early May to about 8,750 people, or 7% of its U.S. workforce, according to two people familiar with the plan who were not authorized to speak about it publicly.
While an alternative to the sudden layoffs removing tech workers from peers like Meta and Oracle, the savings are likely tied to a similar industry upheaval that is requiring huge spending on the costs of artificial intelligence.
Meta has already warned investors that its 2026 expenses will grow significantly — to the range of $162 billion to $169 billion — driven by infrastructure costs and employee compensation, particularly for the artificial intelligence experts it's been hiring at eye-popping pay levels.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives welcomed Meta's cuts in a note to investors Thursday.
He said he sees it as part of a strategy of using AI tools to “automate tasks that once required large teams, allowing the company to streamline operations and reduce costs while maintaining productivity driving an increased need for a leaner operating structure.”
Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, has spent billions of dollars operating an ever-expanding global network of data centers powering cloud computing services, AI systems and its own suite of productivity tools, including the AI assistant Copilot.
CNBC reported earlier Thursday on a memo from Microsoft's chief people officer, Amy Coleman, announcing the voluntary retirement plan.
“Our hope is that this program gives those eligible the choice to take that next step on their own terms, with generous company support,” Coleman wrote, according to CNBC.
MATT O'BRIEN
O'Brien covers the business of technology and artificial intelligence for The Associated Press.
BARBARA ORTUTAY
Ortutay writes about social media and the internet for The Associated Press.
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8speakers67%attributed speech148writer words
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100%flagged-word coverageAmy Coleman
29 attributed words9.7% of attributed speech82% writer coverage
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