Post Content Snap expects to cut more than $500 million in annualised expenses by the second half of the year, CEO Evan Spiegel said. (Image: Snapchat)
Snap has confirmed that it will lay off about 1,000 employees or roughly 16 per cent of its full-time staff.
Advances in AI are helping streamline operations and operate with smaller teams, the parent firm of social media platform, Snapchat, said on Wednesday, April 15. More than 65 per cent of new code at Snapchat is being generated using AI coding tools, the company said, adding that it is also assigning other critical tasks to focused teams and AI agents.
Snap reportedly had about 5,261 full-time employees as of December 2025. It is the latest tech giant to announce layoffs this year, and one of the few firms that has acknowledged AI as a key driver behind the planned round of job cuts. Several tech companies are shifting toward leaner teams while simultaneously ramping up AI adoption to streamline operations.
Over 80 tech companies have announced roughly 71,440 job cuts this year, according to data from layoff tracker Layoffs.fyi, suggesting that AI is already significantly reshaping the workforce by automating routine tasks. Earlier this month, news reports suggested that Oracle plans to cut roughly 11,000-12,000 jobs in India — almost half of its staff in the country — as part of the US-based enterprise software giant’s worldwide workforce reduction that could affect up to 30,000 employees across markets.
While Oracle did not disclose the exact number of layoffs and the reasons for it, analysts estimated that the company is restructuring its business to support large-scale investments in AI and cloud infrastructure.
Also Read | Tech layoffs in 2025: How AI emerged as a clear(er) driver of job cuts
Snap, on the other hand, has reportedly come under pressure from activist investors such as Capital Management to optimise its portfolio and improve performance. The company is also freezing hiring for more than 300 open roles, as per Reuters.
With these measures aimed at reducing operating costs and stock-based compensation, Snap expects to cut more than $500 million in annualised expenses by the second half of the year, CEO Evan Spiegel said. The layoffs come ahead of the widely anticipated launch of Snap’s next-generation augmented reality (AR) glasses called Specs for general consumers later this year.
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Its $400 million deal with AI search startup Perplexity has also been halted, according to the Sources newsletter published by tech journalist Alex Heath. As part of the partnership, Perplexity reportedly agreed to pay Snap $400 million over a year in a mix of cash and equity, an amount that represents about 7 per cent of the social media company’s 2024 sales, in exchange for having its AI-powered search engine integrated into the social media app.
