Pinterest layoffs today: 15% of jobs cut as social media giant is latest to cite shift to AI

Nike isn’t the only household corporate name to announce significant layoffs this week. Just a day after the sporting goods giant announced layoffs, citing a further embrace of automation, social media giant Pinterest has announced it will cut jobs. The driving factor here? Artificial intelligence.

Here’s what you need to know about the Pinterest layoffs.

What’s happened?

On Tuesday, the image-sharing social media platform Pinterest announced it plans to lay off around 15% of its workforce. The company made the announcement in a Form 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 

In that filing, Pinterest said that its board of directors had approved a global restructuring plan for the company. As part of that plan, Pinterest will pare its workforce back by “less than 15%.” In addition, the company will also reduce its office space.

When reached for comment, Pinterest told Fast Company that it had around 5,200 employees as of December 2025. A 15% reduction then would result in approximately 780 jobs being lost. The company says the restructuring charges resulting from its plans will cost the company between $35 million and $45 million.

Pinterest said that its restructuring plan is expected to be completed by the end of its third quarter, which finishes on September 30. It is unknown whether the layoffs will take place immediately or be spread over the period from now until September.

Why is Pinterest cutting jobs?

When reached for comment, a Pinterest spokesperson told Fast Company that it was “making organizational changes to further deliver on our AI-forward strategy, which includes hiring AI-proficient talent. As a result, we’ve made the difficult decision to say goodbye to some of our team members.”

In its Form 8-K, the company elaborated on the AI shift that is occurring with the layoffs, stating that it plans to reallocate “resources to AI-focused roles and teams that drive AI adoption and execution” while “prioritizing AI‑powered products and capabilities.”

While Pinterest boasts 600 million monthly active users, that number is well below the billions its main competitor, Meta, has across Facebook and Instagram, as well as TikTok. Users now use all four platforms for shopping to some degree, making them all attractive to advertisers.

However, while Facebook and TikTok wasted no time embracing AI to improve their user experience and the tools and technologies powering their ad business, Pinterest has been slower to adopt AI. Yet that began to change significantly last year with the rollout of its AI chatbot, Pinterest Assistant, which lets users get personalized style and shopping recommendations.

With today’s announcements, Pinterest is clearly signaling that it plans to accelerate its AI adoption going forward.

How has Pinterest’s stock price reacted?

Pinterest, Inc. shares (NYSE: PINS) are currently down heavily in early-morning trading. As of the time of this writing, PINS shares have fallen over 8.5% since the market opened, to $23.68.

Today’s fall means PINS stock is now negative around 8.2% for the year so far. Over the past 12 months, Pinterest shares have fallen by over 29%.

In its Q3 2025 earnings report in November, Pinterest reported 17% year-over-year earnings growth of just over $1 billion.

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