Snap Mass Layoffs Landing Today? Report Sends Traders Buzzing As Stock Eyes Third Day Of Gains

• The report also says that Snap’s $400 deal with Perplexity has fallen through.
• Radiant Capital, which claims to be an investor, said 16% of its staff, about 840 workers, would be affected.
• Snap shares jumped 2.5% in Wednesday’s premarket, and retail sentiment improved to ‘bullish.’

Snap, Inc. shares jumped 2.5% in the early premarket session on Wednesday, amid fresh rumors about the social media company planning a sizable reduction in its workforce. The stock is on track to end higher for a third straight session if premarket gains are sustained.

U.S. multinationals have continued trimming their workforces into 2026 as AI-driven tools boost efficiency and companies reallocate resources across projects for the AI era. In recent months, Uber, Meta and Block have announced cuts.

Tech newsletter Source.com, which broke the news, said Snap could announce the layoffs as soon as today. The “sweeping cuts” will more distinctly separate the legacy Snapchat business from the company's augmented reality glasses business, the report said.

Snap’s Perplexity Deal Gone?

Some teams would be halved while the Specs subsidiary will gain employees ahead of the glasses' imminent launch, the report’s writer, Alex Heath, said in an X post. He also added that the company’s agreement with Perplexity, signed last November and reportedly worth $400 million, has fallen through.
 

Snap Layoff Rumors Build

The extent of the workforce reduction is currently unclear, as Source.com’s paywalled report was not immediately accessible. Radiant Capital, which claims to be a shareholder in the company, said the cuts would affect 16% of Snap's workforce.

Snap’s workforce grew about 7% last year to 5,261 employees as of the end of December. Based on that number and Radiant’s disclosure, about 842 workers could be impacted.

The potential layoffs were being discussed on Blind, a platform where workers post about job cuts and other corporate issues. The original poster of a thread speculated that Snap could be looking to lay off up to 50% of its staff.

SNAP Under Pressure From Activist Investor

The rumors come weeks after activist investor Irenic Capital Management disclosed a 2.5% stake in Snap and urged the company to make changes to boost its stock.

Irenic said Snap should use AI more heavily to cut about 21% of its workforce, or 1,000 workers. “AI can and should replace many existing roles,” Irenic said in its letter, which included six recommendations with an aim to “7X” the stock.

They also included shutting down or spinning off Specs, the company’s augmented reality glasses unit. The unit was announced to be a wholly owned subsidiary of Snap in January.

Snap shares are down 30.6% year to date, compared to the 16% drop in Global X Funds - Global X Social Media ETF (SOCL), which tracks social media stocks. Since Snap’s 2007 IPO, the stock has shed about 80%.

Retail View On SNAP Improves

On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment for SNAP flipped to ‘bullish’ from ‘netural,’ amid ‘extremely high’ message volume.

“$SNAP i no longer feel like a clown for doubling down,” said a trader, referring to the latest developments as well as investors’ frustration over the stock weakness.

The potential “layoffs prove Evan Spiegel is following the Activists playbook to get the share price back up to $26!” posted another trader. Others also sounded alarm about the Perplexity deal reportedly falling through: “So they’re missing out in $400 million in revenue yet the market is bullish?”

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