Pinterest has announced that it will be laying off about 15 percent of its employees as it focuses heavily on artificial intelligence. The move is the largest round of job cuts in the company’s history. The layoffs are expected to affect 700 to 800 employees globally and the company describes it as part of a broader “transformation initiative” aimed at prioritizing AI-powered products and capabilities.

The layoffs at Pinterest will be completed by the end of the company’s third quarter in late September, according to a recent securities filing. Along with the workforce cuts, Pinterest is also planning to significantly reduce its office space as it moves toward a hybrid work model. The company said the move will help generate cost savings that can be reinvested in key growth areas.

“On January 26, 2026, the Company announced a board-approved global restructuring plan (the ‘Plan’), which includes reductions in force, which are expected to impact less than 15 percent of the Company’s workforce, as well as reductions in office space,” wrote Vanjie Walcott, Pinterest’s chief legal and business affairs officer.

Pinterest has clarified that most of the job cuts will be concentrated in corporate and support roles rather than product engineering or creative teams. The company said this approach will allow it to reallocate resources to AI-focused roles and teams which can accelerate AI adoption and execution across the platform. It said it aims to strengthen innovation as competition in the social media and digital advertising sector intensifies.

Before the announcement, Pinterest had about 6,500 employees, although recent regulatory filings put the company’s headcount at about 4,666 at the end of 2024. As part of the restructuring, Pinterest will consolidate leased office spaces and reduce its overall office footprint. The company said affected employees will receive severance packages, expanded health care benefits and displacement assistance to help with the transition.

This is not the first time Pinterest has reduced its workforce. The company plans to cut about nine percent of its workforce in 2023.

Pinterest is also not alone in making mass layoffs. Amazon announced plans to cut 16,000 jobs globally on Wednesday, January 28, adding to nearly 14,000 jobs already eliminated over the past few months and bringing the total number of recent job cuts to nearly 30,000. The cuts are primarily focused on corporate roles. According to the company, the job cuts are part of a broader effort to streamline the organization, scale back pandemic-era hiring and redirect resources toward priority areas like artificial intelligence, even as the company continues to hire selectively in strategic functions.