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Facebook Owner Meta Starts Final Round of Layoffs

The logo of Meta Platforms' business group is seen in Brussels, Belgium December 6, 2022. (Reuters)
The logo of Meta Platforms' business group is seen in Brussels, Belgium December 6, 2022. (Reuters)
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Facebook Owner Meta Starts Final Round of Layoffs

The logo of Meta Platforms' business group is seen in Brussels, Belgium December 6, 2022. (Reuters)
The logo of Meta Platforms' business group is seen in Brussels, Belgium December 6, 2022. (Reuters)

Meta Platforms Inc started carrying out the last batch of a three-part round of layoffs on Wednesday, according to a source familiar with the matter, as part of a plan announced in March to eliminate 10,000 roles.

Meta earlier this year became the first Big Tech company to announce a second round of mass layoffs, after showing more than 11,000 employees the door in the fall. The cuts brought the company's headcount down to where it stood as of about mid-2021, following a hiring spree that doubled its workforce since 2020.

Several employees working in teams such as marketing, recruiting, engineering and corporate communications took to LinkedIn on Wednesday to announce that they were laid off.

Meta shares were up 0.5% in a broadly weaker market. They have more than doubled in value this year and are among the top performers in the S&P 500 index, thanks to the cost-cutting drive and Meta's focus on artificial intelligence.

Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg in March said the bulk of the layoffs in the company's second round would take place in three "moments" over several months, largely finishing in May. Some smaller rounds could continue after that, he said.

Overall the cuts have hit non-engineering roles most heavily, reinforcing the primacy of those who write the code at Meta. Zuckerberg pledged in March to restructure business teams "substantially" and return to a "more optimal ratio of engineers to other roles."

Even among cuts aimed specifically at technology teams, the company eliminated non-engineering roles like content design and user experience research most severely, according to executives speaking at a company town hall afterward.

About 4,000 employees lost their jobs in the April layoffs, Zuckerberg said during the town hall, following a smaller hit to recruiting teams in March.

The social media company said on Wednesday that the latest cuts were likely to impact around 490 employees at its international headquarters in Dublin, or almost 20% of its Irish workforce.

Meta's layoffs followed months of waning revenue growth amid high inflation and a digital ad pullback from the pandemic e-commerce boom.

The company also has been pouring billions of dollars into its metaverse-oriented Reality Labs unit, which lost $13.7 billion in 2022, and a project to whip its infrastructure into shape to support artificial intelligence work.

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Technology

Pentagon Reaches Agreements with Top AI Companies, but Not Anthropic

FILE PHOTO: Aerial view of the United States military headquarters, the Pentagon, September 28, 2008. REUTERS/Jason Reed/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Aerial view of the United States military headquarters, the Pentagon, September 28, 2008. REUTERS/Jason Reed/File Photo
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Pentagon Reaches Agreements with Top AI Companies, but Not Anthropic

FILE PHOTO: Aerial view of the United States military headquarters, the Pentagon, September 28, 2008. REUTERS/Jason Reed/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Aerial view of the United States military headquarters, the Pentagon, September 28, 2008. REUTERS/Jason Reed/File Photo

The Pentagon said on Friday it had reached agreements with seven AI companies to deploy their advanced capabilities on the Defense Department's classified networks as it seeks to broaden the range of AI providers working across the military.

The statement notably excludes Anthropic, which has been in dispute with the Pentagon over guardrails for the use of its artificial intelligence tools by the military, Reuters reported.

The Pentagon labeled the AI startup, which is widely used across the Department of Defense, a supply-chain risk earlier this year, barring its use by the Pentagon and its contractors.

SpaceX, OpenAI, Google, NVIDIA, Reflection, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services, several of which already work with the Pentagon, will be integrated into its Impact Levels 6 and 7 network environments giving more of the military access to their products, the Pentagon said in a statement.

By expanding the AI services offered to troops, who use it for planning, logistics, targeting and a bevy of other reasons to streamline huge operations and perform more quickly, the Pentagon said in its statement it will avoid "vendor lock", a likely nod to its overdependence on Anthropic. Pentagon staffers, former officials and IT contractors who work closely with the US military have told Reuters they were reluctant to give upAnthropic’s AI tools, which they view as superior to alternatives, despite orders to remove them over the next six months.

AI has become increasingly important for the US military. The Pentagon's main AI platform GenAI.mil has been used by over 1.3 million Defense Department personnel, the agency noted in its release, after five months of operation.

Google, which is already used within the Pentagon, has signed a deal enabling the Department of Defense to use its artificial intelligence models for classified work, a source told Reuters earlier this week.

ANTHROPIC STILL A 'RISK'

Defense Department Chief Technology Officer Emil Michael on Friday told CNBC that Anthropic remained a supply-chain risk, but that Mythos, the company’s artificial intelligence model with advanced cyber capabilities that created a stir among US officials and corporate America over its ability to supercharge hackers, was a “separate national security moment.”

While numerous companies and public and private entities have gained access to a Mythos preview product to help secure their IT infrastructure against future cyberattacks, it is not clear if the Pentagon is part of that program. US President Donald Trump said last week that Anthropic was "shaping up" in the eyes of his administration, opening the door for the AI company to reverse its blacklisting at the Pentagon.

Still, the falling out reinforced the need to diversify the supply of AI tools for the military, opening new opportunities for small defense industry artificial intelligence startups.

Technology

Apple Shares Rise on Strong Quarterly Sales in Run-up to CEO Change

The Apple logo is seen at an Apple store in the Barton Creek Square mall on April 30, 2026 in Austin, Texas. (Getty Images via AFP)
The Apple logo is seen at an Apple store in the Barton Creek Square mall on April 30, 2026 in Austin, Texas. (Getty Images via AFP)
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Apple Shares Rise on Strong Quarterly Sales in Run-up to CEO Change

The Apple logo is seen at an Apple store in the Barton Creek Square mall on April 30, 2026 in Austin, Texas. (Getty Images via AFP)
The Apple logo is seen at an Apple store in the Barton Creek Square mall on April 30, 2026 in Austin, Texas. (Getty Images via AFP)

Apple shares jumped 3% in premarket trading ‌on Friday after the iPhone maker posted its strongest quarterly sales growth in more than four years, a show of momentum as it prepares to hand over the reins to a new CEO.

Its latest iPhone 17 Pro series and the newly launched low-cost MacBook Neo laptop are both drawing buyers at a time of low overall demand in the consumer electronics industry due to price hikes forced by the memory chip shortage.

Even though Apple's margins for the January-March quarter and its fiscal third-quarter forecast were above Wall Street estimates, outgoing CEO Tim Cook warned that ‌higher memory costs would ‌increasingly weigh on the business from June.

Limited ‌supply ⁠of the advanced ⁠processors for iPhone have already hampered Apple's ability to capitalize on strong demand. The chips are made by Taiwan's TSMC, the leading producer of AI processors.

Analysts say Apple's clout with long-time suppliers could position it better than rivals in securing memory chips but it might have to raise prices later this year.

"The key question will be deciding the perfect balance strategically ⁠between increasing prices and maintaining profitability or focusing on ‌gaining share by not increasing prices," said ‌Nabila Popal, a senior research director at IDC.

"I think Apple will increase ‌prices of the Pro and ProMax in upcoming fall launch, however ‌even if they don't, with the super high-end iPhone fold coming up - which we expect to be well over $2,200– will help balance some of the increased costs."

RESULTS BODE WELL FOR NEW CEO

The results, including a forecast of ‌14% to 17% sales growth for the current quarter that was above estimates, bode well for the company ⁠before hardware ⁠chief John Ternus takes over as CEO in September. Cook will stay on as executive chairman.

The change comes as Apple looks to close the gap with rivals Microsoft and Alphabet, which have moved faster to roll out AI features and infrastructure.

Investors are expected to get more details about its AI plans at it annual software developer conference in June.

Some analysts said Apple's decision to no longer aim to bring its net cash - cash minus debt - to a net neutral position may help it manage its financial position better in the AI era.

The move gives it greater balance-sheet flexibility, allowing it to absorb higher costs, support share repurchases and deploy capital more strategically, TD Cowen analysts said.

Technology

Meta Chief Doubles Down on AI Spending

FILE PHOTO: Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives outside court to take the stand at trial in a key test case accusing Meta and Google's YouTube of harming kids' mental health through addictive platforms, in Los Angeles, California, US, February 18, 2026. REUTERS/Mike Blake
FILE PHOTO: Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives outside court to take the stand at trial in a key test case accusing Meta and Google's YouTube of harming kids' mental health through addictive platforms, in Los Angeles, California, US, February 18, 2026. REUTERS/Mike Blake
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Meta Chief Doubles Down on AI Spending

FILE PHOTO: Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives outside court to take the stand at trial in a key test case accusing Meta and Google's YouTube of harming kids' mental health through addictive platforms, in Los Angeles, California, US, February 18, 2026. REUTERS/Mike Blake
FILE PHOTO: Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives outside court to take the stand at trial in a key test case accusing Meta and Google's YouTube of harming kids' mental health through addictive platforms, in Los Angeles, California, US, February 18, 2026. REUTERS/Mike Blake

Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday defended massive spending on artificial intelligence that dragged down shares despite strong earnings boosted by the technology.

The social networking colossus raised its capital expenditures for this year to a range of $125 billion to $145 billion without laying out exactly how that investment would translate into profit.

"The way to think about the investment is that we're making a bet (on) the individual things that people care about, and that people are going to be more important in the future," Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg said during an earnings call, as analysts pressed him about the company's heavy spending on AI.

He gave the example of a hot trend in "agentic" AI in which digital assistants handle computer tasks independently at the behest of people.

"There are a lot of agents out there that people are building for different things, and there aren't that many that I would want to give to my mother," Zuckerberg said.

"I think getting to that quality bar is something that I care about more than hitting a specific week for launching (a new product) or something like that."

Zuckerberg spotlighted a new Muse Spark AI model built by Meta's nascent "Superintelligence Lab", saying its technology will be put to work in Meta's offerings such as smartglasses and its advertising system.

"We are trying novel things," AFP quoted Zuckerberg as saying.

The AI investment from the company that owns Instagram and Facebook is not directly tied to a revenue stream as with Amazon, Microsoft and Google, which sell their AI-powered cloud services to clients worldwide.

Meta sent tremors on Wall Street by announcing in its earnings release that expenses at the tech giant notched up to $33.4 billion as it chases "superintelligence" through major infrastructure buys, and went on a hiring spree for top AI talent.

Shares dropped more than 6 percent even though the company topped forecasts with a profit of $26.8 billion on revenue of $56.3 billion in the quarter.

- Headwinds and scrutiny -

Adding to investor unease about Meta, chief financial officer Susan Li told analysts Meta continues to monitor legal and regulatory "headwinds" in the US and Europe, including social media addiction lawsuits.

"We continue to see scrutiny on youth related issues and have additional trials scheduled for this year in the US, which may ultimately result in a material loss," Li warned.

A Los Angeles jury in March found Meta and YouTube liable for harming a young woman because of an addictive design of their social media platforms, ordering the companies to pay millions of dollars in damages.

The verdict hands plaintiffs in more than a thousand similar pending cases significant leverage -- and signals to the tech industry that juries are prepared to hold social media companies accountable for the mental health toll of their design choices.