Meta to lay off hundreds of employees, The Information reports

March 25 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms META.O will lay off a few hundred people across its Reality Labs division, social media teams and recruiting operations on Wednesday, The Information reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.

Reuters reported earlier this month that Meta was planning sweeping layoffs that could affect 20% or more of the company's workforce and that top executives had signaled the plans to other senior leaders and told them to begin planning how to pare back.

The cuts reported on Wednesday, which affects only a tiny portion of the company's overall workforce, will also impact a smaller number of employees in its sales unit, The Information report said.

The Facebook parent is seeking to offset rising costs tied to massive investments in artificial intelligence, having forecast total expenses of $162 billion to $169 billion in 2026, and rising employee compensation as the company spends millions to hire top AI talent.

Meta had nearly 79,000 employees as of December 31, according to its annual filing.