Meta Platforms Layoffs Start Today as It Shifts Focus to AI Development

Meta Platforms (META) layoffs start today as the social media giant further shifts to an artificial intelligence (AI) company. The tech company is cutting 5% of its headcount, roughly 3,600 employees, with reductions based on performance. The job cuts also aren’t tied to a specific region with workers globally affected.

The Meta Platforms layoffs aren’t surprising as it’s still near the beginning of the year, which is often when companies conduct layoffs to adjust their workforces for the next 12 months. A perfect example is Microsoft (MSFT) announcing similar job cuts last month.

META investors don’t appear overly worried about the layoffs announced today. The company’s stock is up 0.1% as of this writing, continuing its 22.16% climb year-to-date and 53.12% rally over the past year.

Meta Platforms Continues to Hire Despite Layoffs

While Meta Platforms is adjusting its workforce, it’s still seeking new talent. The company is conducting an expedited hiring process to bring in new workers from Feb. 11 to March 13. The company wants to hire more machine learning and other types of engineers.

The hiring plans revealed by the social media giant come as it continues to focus more on AI development. Meta Platform’s Llama AI model has fallen behind its rivals, unable to compete with ChatGPT. On top of that, it was handily shown up by DeepSeek, a Chinese AI model that rattled AI stocks last month. This has founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg dedicating resources to improving Llama.

Is META Stock a Buy, Sell, or Hold?

Turning to Wall Street, the analysts’ consensus rating for Meta Platforms is Strong Buy based on 43 Buy, three Hold, and one Sell ratings over the last three months. With that comes an average price target of $760.82 with a high forecast of $875.00 and a low forecast of $610. This represents a potential 6.44% upside for META stock.

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