Meta to cut 8000 employees despite $26B Q1 net income | Hacker News Reader

Meta to cut 8000 employees despite $26B Q1 net income

moneywise.com

36 pointsstackghost6 comments

At least they’re not claiming the people aren’t needed due to the AI efficiency.

I don’t really understand the logic behind those massive hiring/firing decisions but both in 2023 and now I’ve been feeling that it’s a fad/trend decision as much if not more than independent reasoning. Everyone around is cutting staff, our board is asking if we can cut some too, boom, X thousand people fired. They claim people to fire are based on merit while insiders online are claiming randomness and often pure chaos in the affected teams.

Also, haven’t heard before about the tracking part but that seems f-ing crazy. I’d be glad to be fired with severance - more time and extra cash to look for another job.

Probably few if any of the layoffs are happening in their core AI efforts, in which case a big effect of all this it to shift the balance of their workforce toward AI and away from other priorities.

I also wonder if it is to see whether the remaining employees pick up the extra workload using AI...

Americans will never quite understand what they bargained away for a government and culture based on freewheeling capitalism and a vague notion of ‘freedom’ that seems to absolve everyone of the one thing real freedom requires: responsibility.

People who work at Meta are paid very well. I think the majority of them would prefer to be paid very well and have the danger of being laid off, than to be paid at European levels and have more job security. Being laid off from Meta is not some sort of ticket to homelessness. Most of those employees will get another job in at most a few months.

I was there. I was laid off from such an employer. I got another job in 3 weeks, and I didn't have to take a pay cut. Being laid off is never a pleasant experience, for sure. But that's the way to keep a strong economy. Here's an article from the Economist published 5 days ago: "America is experiencing a productivity miracle" [1]. The ability of employers to hire and fire as they see fit is part of the explanation.

[1] https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2026/05/11/a...

Like all the big companies: no social responsibility, only make more money. Not to employees, not to countries they operate in, not to users. Pure greed.

"We would like to thank our employees for working so hard to generate record profits, and value for our executive team and shareholders. We wish you all the best at your next job."

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