Snap Incorporated, the parent company of Snapchat, eliminated approximately 1,000 jobs on Wednesday, April 15, blaming advances in artificial intelligence (AI) for reducing the need for human labour across several of its teams.
The layoffs represent 16 percent of Snap’s full-time workforce. Chief Executive Officer Evan Spiegel confirmed the cuts in a memo filed with regulators, saying AI was now enabling teams to move faster and do more with fewer people.
In addition to the job cuts, Snap closed more than 300 open roles that will no longer be filled. The company expects the restructuring to reduce its annualised cost base by more than $500 million by the second half of 2026.
Affected staff in the United States will receive four months of severance pay, healthcare coverage, equity vesting, and career transition support.
The move adds Snap to a rapidly expanding list of technology companies citing AI productivity gains as a reason to shrink their payrolls. Restructuring charges are expected to fall between $95 million and $130 million in the second quarter, with the process continuing into the third quarter due to local law requirements in various countries.
Activist investor Irenic Capital Management, which holds a 2.5 percent stake in Snap, had been pushing the company to cut costs ahead of the announcement.
Snap’s stock rose nearly 8 percent on Wednesday following news of the layoffs, though shares remain down significantly for the year.
The broader technology sector has seen significant workforce reductions this year, with job cut tracking data indicating that tens of thousands of workers have already been laid off across dozens of companies in 2026.
