January 13, 2026 – According to reports from multiple U.S. media outlets, including Bloomberg and The New York Times, Meta is set to carry out a fresh round of layoffs in its Reality Labs division this week. The expected number of job cuts is in the hundreds, accounting for about 10% of the department’s workforce.
It is reported that the layoffs will mainly target the metaverse team. This move is seen as a clear sign that Meta is fully committing to its AI strategy, with the company’s resources and management focus shifting more from virtual reality (VR) and metaverse businesses to the AI field.
Sources say that Meta’s Chief Technology Officer, Andrew Bosworth, who is in charge of Reality Labs, has scheduled an in – house meeting for Wednesday. He “strongly urged employees to attend in person,” calling it “the most crucial meeting of the year.”
Public information shows that Reality Labs currently has around 15,000 employees. Given this situation, the layoffs within the VR and metaverse teams are not surprising. It’s worth noting that last month, Bloomberg also reported that Meta planned to cut its metaverse – related budget by 30%.
In recent years, Reality Labs has been under continuous performance and market pressure. In contrast, the Ray – Ban smart glasses, a collaborative product between Meta and Ray – Ban, have been gaining more attention in the market and public opinion, even overshadowing the company’s main VR headset products.
Even without considering that AI has gradually become Meta’s top strategic priority, the user acceptance and growth of the metaverse over the past few years have fallen short of expectations. Some users generally believe that the popularity of its VR social platform has significantly declined.
