Snapchat parent company Snap will be laying off 16% of its global workforce, or about 1,000 employees, CEO Evan Spiegel shared in a Wednesday memo to staff.
“Last fall, I described Snap as facing a crucible moment, requiring a new way of working that is faster and more efficient, while pivoting towards profitable growth. Over the past several months, we have carefully reviewed the work required to best serve our community and partners, and made tough choices to prioritize the investments we believe are most likely to create long-term value,” the Snap co-founder wrote. “As a result of these changes, we expect to reduce our annualized cost base by more than $500 million by the second half of 2026, helping to establish a clearer path to net-income profitability.”
“While these changes are necessary to realize Snap’s long-term potential, we believe that rapid advancements in artificial intelligence enable our teams to reduce repetitive work, increase velocity, and better support our community, partners and advertisers,” Spiegel added. “We have already witnessed small squads leveraging AI tools to drive meaningful progress across several important initiatives, including Snapchat+, enhanced ad platform performance, and efficiency improvements in our Snap Lite infrastructure.”
Additionally, 300 open roles will no longer be filled. The layoffs will cost the company roughly $95-$130 million in severance and other related costs, a regulatory filing further noted.
“The headcount reduction is designed to further streamline our operations and reallocate resources toward our highest-priority initiatives, leveraging increased operational efficiencies to accelerate our path toward net-income profitability,” the documents read.
Snap previously cut 10% of its workforce in 2024, or about 530 employees. The company had 5,261 full-time employees at the end of 2025.
The update also comes just two weeks after Snapchat held its first-ever Snappys.
“To everyone continuing on this journey: change of this magnitude and at this speed is never easy and it will not be seamless. Thank you for your resilience, compassion, and commitment to one another, and to the community and partners we serve,” Spiegel concluded his message. “Our responsibility is to move forward with clarity, empathy, and determination as we build a faster, stronger, and more durable Snap for the long term.”
