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Updated February 25, 2026 \u2014 11:51am,first published February 25, 2026 \u2014 9:59am<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n Save this article for later<\/p>\n Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.<\/p>\n Got it<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n WiseTech Global will cut roughly 2000 staff \u2013 nearly a third of its workforce of 7000 \u2013 over the next two years as chief executive Zubin Appoo bets the logistics software giant\u2019s future on artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n Some teams face headcount reductions of up to 50 per cent, starting with product development and customer service, including recently acquired US platform e2open.<\/p>\n The restructure comes amid a steep sell-off across traditional software companies, from Atlassian to Adobe, driven by fears that AI-powered coding tools will allow upstarts to rapidly replicate services that took incumbents years to build.<\/p>\n \u201cThe era of manually writing code as the core act of engineering is over,\u201d Appoo declared on Wednesday, calling AI \u201cthe most significant shift in decades\u201d for software development.<\/p>\n The cuts follow a turbulent period for the company, which has faced governance scrutiny and leadership upheaval including the departure of former chief executive Richard White<\/a>. Appoo framed the job losses as an \u201cAI transformation program\u201d that would let WiseTech move \u201cfaster from ideas to real customer value\u201d.<\/p>\n Related Article Investors responded positively, with WiseTech shares soaring 10.7 per cent in early trading to $47.60.<\/p>\n The job cuts were announced alongside half-year results that painted a mixed financial picture. Revenue surged 76 per cent to $US672 million ($950 million), boosted by five months of revenue from e2open, which WiseTech acquired for $US2.1 billion last year. But organic revenue growth was a more modest 7 per cent.<\/p>\n Net profit fell 36 per cent to $US68.1 million, weighed down by e2open integration costs, increased amortisation and interest expenses. Underlying profit – which excludes acquisition-related charges – rose just 2 per cent to $US114.5 million.<\/p>\n Related Article Josh Gilbert, market analyst at eToro, said the restructure gave investors a clearer narrative after months of uncertainty.<\/p>\n \u201cThe market spent the better part of this year punishing WiseTech for what it feared AI would do to the business,\u201d Gilbert said. \u201cRather than being a victim of the AI revolution, WiseTech is using it to become a leaner, more profitable business, and that\u2019s exactly what investors needed to see.\u201d<\/p>\n WiseTech serves more than 22,000 logistics companies across 193 countries, including 46 of the top 50 global third-party logistics providers.<\/p>\n \u201cIf WiseTech can deliver its software with a significantly smaller headcount while continuing to embed CargoWise deeper into the world\u2019s largest logistics networks, the margin expansion potential over the next two to three years is substantial,\u201d Gilbert said.<\/p>\n \u201cBut the company needs to prove that cutting nearly a third of its workforce doesn\u2019t come at the expense of the product quality and customer service and that organic growth can find its feet again.\u201d<\/p>\n The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"WiseTech\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/70420903623b826c7c1e71a5381419634ebe6dc9.jpeg\")
WiseTech\u2019s billionaire founder Richard White and chief executive Zubin Appoo.Sitthixay Ditthavong<\/p>\n![\"WiseTech](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/089f9727c90b941b976b3f32d7a084c4097efb3e.jpeg\")
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David Swan<\/a> is the technology editor for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. He was previously technology editor for The Australian newspaper.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated February 25, 2026 \u2014 11:51am,first published February 25, 2026 \u2014 9:59am Save You have reached your maximum…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":502119,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,254,255,64,63,105],"class_list":["post-502118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/502119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}