# Meta fires 8,000 on a record quarter. Unacademy sells for 90% less than its peak

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/daybreak-5886514/meta-fires-8-000-on-a-record-quarter-unacademy-sells-for-90-less-than-its-peak
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/daybreak-5886514/meta-fires-8-000-on-a-record-quarter-unacademy-sells-for-90-less-than-its-peak.md
Podcast: [Daybreak](https://stenobird.com/podcast/daybreak-5886514)
Published: 2026-05-21T23:41:55+00:00
Episode link: https://share.transistor.fm/s/44bc0689
Audio file: https://media.transistor.fm/44bc0689/5829ffbd.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/daybreak-5886514/episodes/meta-fires-8-000-on-a-record-quarter-unacademy-sells-for-90-less-than-its-peak
Duration seconds: 671

## Resource

On Wednesday, Meta began firing 8,000 people.This makes up 10% of its global workforce. The cuts started at 4am on 20 May, rolling across time zones. People found out by email. Meta's quarterly revenue that same week: $56 billion. It's capex guidance for 2026: up to $145 billion, almost all of it going into AI. This is the current trend in Big Tech: record profits, mass layoffs, redirect to machines, repeat. Then, closer home: Unacademy is being sold to upGrad for $218 million — over 90% below its 2021 peak of $3.44 billion. The edtech gold rush is over and what's left is the reckoning. Tune in. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

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