A large superyacht reportedly tied to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg docked in Seattle's Lake Union on Tuesday. While it remains unclear if Zuckerberg was aboard, the vessel's arrival coincides with Meta's recent announcement of nearly 1,400 layoffs in western Washington – about 20 percent of the company's total workforce in the state. The latest round of cuts hits hundreds of workers across Seattle, Bellevue and Redmond as Facebook's parent company reallocates resources to fund its aggressive pivot into artificial intelligence. Employees were notified of the job losses during the week leading up to Memorial Day Weekend. The cuts follow previous staff reductions, including 331 local workers let go in January and more than 100 cut just before Christmas 2025. According to industry reporting from GeekWire, the downsizing comes as Meta projects $145 billion in capital expenditures this year, driven largely by heavy spending on AI infrastructure. By the numbers: The layoffs span multiple departments, impacting software and hardware engineers, data scientists, technical writers and marketing teams. According to Worker Adjustment and Restraining Notification (WARN) data, the 1,395 affected regional employees include: Bellevue: 699 employees Remote: 231 Washington-based remote workers Seattle (Dexter Ave.): 251 employees Seattle (Utah Ave.): 44 employees Redmond: 206 employees The affected workers are expected to remain with the company until July 22, according to an internal memo from Meta Chief People Officer Janelle Gale. What they're saying: In the memo, Gale noted that the restructuring is part of an ongoing effort to maximize company efficiency and balance the costs of new technological investments. "This is not an easy tradeoff and it will mean letting go of people who have made meaningful contributions to Meta during their time here," said Gale, according to a report from NPR in April.

Source: FOX 13 Seattle

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