Bloodbath at Mark Zuckerberg-backed California – Business News
A Bay Area non-public college funded by Mark Zuckerberg and his spouse is shedding practically 150 staff forward of its deliberate closure this summer season — because the tech titan invests billions in artificial intelligence.
The Primary School despatched a discover to California’s employment division on April 15 saying it might lay off 147 staff efficient June 12 as half of its everlasting closure.
The Primary School — which offers tuition-free college training for low-income college students since 2016 — known as it a “very difficult decision” when it introduced final yr that it might shutter.
The closure comes as Zuckerberg’s Meta will reportedly spend between $115 and $135 billion on artificial intelligence this yr, practically twice the quantity it spent in 2025.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg walks by means of the U.S. Capitol following a assembly with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) in Washington, DC on March 26, 2026. Nathan Posner/Shutterstock
Mark Zuckerberg, chief govt officer of Meta Platforms Inc., during the Meta Connect occasion in Menlo Park, California, US, on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025. Bloomberg through Getty Images
The Primary School is backed by Zuckerberg and his spouse Priscilla Chan’s Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and operated campuses in East Palo Alto and San Leandro, with a complete scholar population of about 550.
The Initiative will as an alternative commit $50 million over the subsequent few years to Bay Area communities within the kind of training financial savings plans and assist specialists.
The college was backed by the Chan Zuckerberg initiative and operated campuses in East Palo Alto and San Leandro, each closing, with a scholar population of about 550. Peter Barreras/Invision/AP
The Primary School introduced in 2025 that it might close, with leaders there calling it a “very difficult decision.” The Washington Post through Getty Images
“Though The Primary School as it exists today will be coming to an end, we sincerely hope that what we have learned and shown to be possible will live on,” a assertion mentioned. “We will entrust our partners in this work — both our direct collaborators and our compatriots across the education and health fields — to carry the torch for all families, but especially the most vulnerable.”
The closure will displace a number of hundred college students and overwhelm native colleges just like the Ravenswood City School District, which is bracing for college students from the East Palo Alto campus, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Officials from the district mentioned the shift may trigger “an immediate crisis” with out extra space opened up.
