UPDATE April 15, 2026, 18:30 (UTC) – Snap is laying off about 1,000 employees—16% of its staff—as the company doubles down on AI-powered operations and tighter cost controls. Management says shifting more work to AI is already paying off, with most new code now written by machines, and expects annual cost savings to top $500 million. Profitability is also looking up, along with a better revenue outlook. Investors sent shares higher after the announcement, though there’s still skepticism about whether Snap’s business model can deliver over the long run as it continues to restructure.
NEW YORK, April 15, 2026, 07:08 EDT.
- Snap bumped up its revenue outlook for the first quarter to about $1.529 billion and now pegs adjusted EBITDA at $233 million. Earnings land May 6.
- The company plans to cut about 1,000 jobs, which comes out to 16% of its full-time staff, and will also eliminate more than 300 open roles.
Snap shook up its Q1 guidance Wednesday and said about 1,000 jobs will be cut, sparking a sharp reaction in the stock as investors weighed the layoffs against Snap’s renewed emphasis on AI and smart glasses. Shares surged 8.74% to close at $5.60 on Tuesday, then climbed more than 5% in early premarket action.
Snap is doubling down on the question of whether it can fund Specs and new AI products without squeezing margins further. Management pointed to some firmer business trends for the first quarter, though they’re holding back the full details until the May 6 earnings call.
Snap is now targeting a cut of over $500 million from its annualized cost base by late 2026. The plan includes layoffs and scrapping more than 300 open roles. CEO Evan Spiegel, in a memo to staff, credited “rapid advancements in artificial intelligence”—he says smaller teams can move faster. The company also lowered its projection for full-year adjusted operating expenses to roughly $2.75 billion, down from $3.0 billion. SEC
Two weeks after Irenic Capital disclosed it owns about 2.5% of Snap, the activist fund is pressing the company to tighten costs, boost buybacks, and get more aggressive with artificial intelligence. Portfolio manager Adam Katz says Snap “should be worth a lot more than $7 billion” if management follows through. Reuters
Product-wise, Snap’s newly formed Specs division just locked in a multi-year pact with Qualcomm last week. The deal puts Snapdragon XR chips inside consumer glasses, with launches planned for later this year. The bet: augmented reality, those digital layers on the real world, could finally move beyond its current niche.
Snap’s next-generation glasses will run on-device AI, meaning most processing stays local—no sending data to the cloud for every task. CEO Spiegel described this phase as “more human and grounded in the real world.” Qualcomm framed the collaboration as a step toward gadgets that react to their environment instantly, while keeping power use and lag especially low. Snap Newsroom
Snap isn’t stopping at hardware. In March, the company introduced AI Clips in Lens Studio—a tool that turns a single image into a five-second video. February numbers showed direct-revenue operations reaching a $1 billion annualized run rate, fueled by over 25 million subscribers. Fourth-quarter revenue increased 10% to $1.72 billion. Active advertisers surged 28%, and monthly active users reached 946 million.
Snap isn’t keeping its AR ambitions limited to its own app. Only last week, the company linked up with the Los Angeles Dodgers, introducing Snapchat camera tools and new AR lenses for fans at Dodger Stadium. Chief Marketing Officer Grace Kao said more than 215 million users, on average, show up for sports content on Snapchat every month.
The landscape is murky. When large advertisers pull back, smaller platforms like Snap and Pinterest end up absorbing more of the damage, since deep-pocketed brands keep relying on Meta and Google for scale. Back in February, Emarketer’s Max Willens pointed out Snap’s ad business still hasn’t landed those big enterprise clients. Meta, on the other hand, grabbed an early win in AI wearables with its Ray-Ban smart glasses. Job cuts may help margins, but that’s a gamble—especially now, as Snap readies its Specs push for consumers.
Snap is reshaping itself with a clear goal: reach net-income profitability. The next key mark arrives May 6, when full Q1 numbers drop. Ahead of that, Snap has told the market to expect revenue near $1.529 billion and adjusted EBITDA close to $233 million.
