Snap cuts 95 jobs in Washington state as part of broader layoffs, pushes for AI efficiencies – GeekWire
Snap is cutting 95 jobs in Washington state as part of a broader restructuring that will eliminate about 1,000 positions, or 16% of the company’s full-time workforce.
Snapchat’s parent company filed a WARN Act notice with the Department of Employment Security in Washington on Wednesday, indicating layoffs at its offices in Bellevue, Seattle, and Vancouver, Wash.
Applying to the government shows that the roles involved are highly specialized: mainly software engineers, as well as machine learning engineers, data scientists, product managers, and recruiters. Senior roles including director of engineering for Snap’s AI platform and chief software engineer are also on the layoff list.
The layoffs come two weeks after Snap acquired assets from Seattle-based Rec Room, a social gaming company that shut down after failing to find a way to turn a profit.
The Rec Room employees who joined Snap were expected to work at Specs Inc., its hardware subsidiary that specializes in advanced virtual reality glasses. It’s not clear if any of those new hires are among the 95 cut in Washington.
Snap declined to comment beyond what was publicly posted. The company, based in Santa Monica, Calif., had 5,261 full-time employees as of December.
In addition to the planned job cuts, CEO Evan Spiegel told employees in a memo Wednesday that Snap is also eliminating more than 300 open positions it plans to fill, and aims to cut more than $500 million in expenses in the second half of the year.
In the memo, Spiegel framed the cuts in part as an embrace of AI, saying advances in technology are allowing smaller teams to do what once required large organizations.
In an investor update, Snap described the situation as a “critical time,” saying it’s “squeezing us between giants with huge resources and fast-moving startups.” The company said that more than 65% of its new code is now generated by AI, and that AI agents answer more than 1 million support questions per month.
The restructuring follows pressure from activist investor Irenic Capital Management, which owns about 2.5 percent of Snap and pushed the company last month to cut costs and sharpen its strategy. Irenic also criticized Snap’s $3.5 billion investment in its Specs glasses, which has yet to yield strong returns.
Snap’s stock closed up about 8% in trading Wednesday on the news, though it remains down about 25% since the start of the year. The company expects to incur $95 million to $130 million in restructuring costs, primarily related to layoffs.
This is Snap’s fourth major round of layoffs in recent years, following a 10% layoff in 2024, a smaller round in late 2023, and 20% in 2022.
