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Cloudflare to cut about 20% of its workforce

reuters.com

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Re: Cloudflare to cut about 20% of its workforce

#41

Post by louiereederson »

stego-tech wrote: post #32

I'm going to start calling these "Canary" moments. Assuming we take everything at face value for these sorts of cuts, it creates the following scenario: A company finds itself with surplus labor capacity due to the efficiencies in AI while also posting substantial profit or revenue growth. The company could downsize the workforce to capitalize on short-term efficiencies and increase margins, though this will come at…

I think as someone pointed out earlier, this is more likely about margin preservation as their gross margins are deteriorating really quickly.

Re: Cloudflare to cut about 20% of its workforce

#42

Post by RSHEPP »

Any other engineers just living life frozen at this point. I am unable to make any life decisions because it seems like I won't have a career in the near future. I am unable to purchase a home to settle down for my family, because dad might not have a job next week. I know I am fortunate to have a job, many don't, but fuck if this career isn't the worse thing ever for my overall health and happiness.

Re: Cloudflare to cut about 20% of its workforce

#43

Post by zb3 »

> That means we have to be intentional in how we architect our company for the agentic AI era in order to supercharge the value we deliver to our customers and to honor our mission to help build a better Internet for everyone, everywhere.

What a load of crap..

Re: Cloudflare to cut about 20% of its workforce

#44

Post by everfrustrated »

There was an recent article on X with an interesting take - it could be that companies are doing layoffs not because AI is making them more productive but because it hasn't. Their costs have gone up paying for expensive AI but haven't seen any revenue benefits to offset it.

Article https://x.com/championswimmer/status/2051807284691612099

Re: Cloudflare to cut about 20% of its workforce

#45

Post by sjZqahg »

rohitpaulk wrote: post #2

That's 2 major layoffs this week (Coinbase being the other). Is there an underlying common reason for this? And is it indeed AI-driven productivity as both companies claim?

Coinbase for sure is driven by declining Bitcoin fundamentals and entry of other big players in the Trump inner circle. The AI narrative is a lie.

Cloudflare was overvalued and missed extreme expectations (down another 12% now).

By this time I wonder which investor still believes the AI excuse.

Re: Cloudflare to cut about 20% of its workforce

#47

Post by SebRollen »

davidcelis wrote: post #33

I know it's probably automatic because of the similar titles, but hitting the bottom of the layoff announcement only to be recommended that article about hiring 1,111 interns in 2026 is a reaaal bad look

Kind of makes me wonder if the "more than 1,100 employees globally" actually means "1,111" employees. Talk about committing to the bit

Re: Cloudflare to cut about 20% of its workforce

#48

Post by benmusch »

ok_dad wrote: post #31
benmusch wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

why not? isn't the implication of your point that companies should just hire infinitely so long as there's work to be done?

Companies never want to reduce productivity unless they need to cut spending or increase profits. In other words, if AI increases productivity that’s a direct win they can use to beat their competitors. You can’t spend money you don’t have, but you want to spend the money you do have as point at there work to do, which there always is.

> unless they need to cut spending or increase profits

yes, so basically always? the situations where companies don't want to do this are very rare.

I understand your broader point that doubling down on productive things is useful. But there's no limiting principle to that idea.

The obvious reality is that businesses are trying to find a sweet spot between expenses and productivity. It's not always the case that slashing spending is worth it. But it's equally naive to act like being able to do more with less shouldn't make you want... less

Re: Cloudflare to cut about 20% of its workforce

#50

Post by mike_d »

The message to every Cloudflare employee is clear: you'll be there for the company when times are hard. But the company will not be there for you when times are hard.

It does not matter if the way we work has changed, or AI adoption has increased, or aliens show up. This is a demonstrated lack of loyalty that would result in immediate termination of the situation were reversed.

The important take away for everyone else is do you trust Matthew Prince to always take the high road and do what is right, combined with the fact that they man-in-the-middle all of your websites encrypted traffic? What happens when revenues are down and the shareholders demand blood again?

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