{"id":674310,"date":"2026-11-04T03:28:09","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T03:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/674310\/"},"modified":"2026-11-04T03:28:09","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T03:28:09","slug":"canva-layoffs-impact-1200-after-design-giants-hardest-year-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/674310\/","title":{"rendered":"Canva layoffs impact 1,200 after design giant&#8217;s &#8216;hardest year ever&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPublished on\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNovember 4, 2026\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Canva has announced a restructure that will impact 1,271 roles as investors markdown its valuation and its revenue growth slows.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"683\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/CACR24001_EventPhotography_23rd-May-Event-Day_0628_HighResCanva-Create.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-87911\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>A major restructure at Canva will impact approximately 1,271 roles after what founder and chief executive Melanie Perkins described as the design giant\u2019s \u201chardest year yet.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Perkins wrote a memo to Canva\u2019s 5,000-plus employees explaining that 22 per cent of the company would be cut, have their roles changed or relocated in an effort to \u201crefound Canva,\u201d describing the restructure as necessary to ensure growth over the next decade.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs we shared earlier this year, our growth has slowed for the first time in a decade,\u201d Perkins wrote. \u201cSuccess in our first chapter doesn\u2019t guarantee success in the next. This has been our hardest year yet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It comes as new filings lodged with the SEC reveal investment titan T. Rowe Price marked down the value of its Canva shares by 20 per cent, down to US$1,189 per share, giving it an implied valuation of US$30.4 billion as of August 31. It is the latest of several investor markdowns the company has endured this year.<\/p>\n<p>Canva entered 2026 valued at US$40 billion and as one of the world\u2019s hottest IPO prospects, with plans to make a bigger debut on the Nasdaq than any Australian tech company before it. <\/p>\n<p>But the company has hit several stumbling blocks. After reorganising its platform around artificial intelligence in what it dubbed Canva 2.0, the company was forced to delay rolling out several products due to the cost of serving AI to its mostly non-paying customers. <\/p>\n<p>Around that time it also told investors it was marking down its projected revenue growth from 30 per cent to 20 per cent. Blackbird, its biggest shareholder, responded by cutting its internal valuation of the company by 17 per cent. US institutions <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com.au\/news\/innovation\/canva-valuation-marked-down-by-us-titans-t-rowe-price-and-franklin-templeton\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">T. Rowe Price and Franklin Templeton followed<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is without doubt the hardest moment in our thirteen-year history,\u201d Perkins wrote, describing the changes as necessary to cut through bureaucracy and enable smaller, more nimble teams.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter exploring a wide range of alternatives, I\u2019ve come to the difficult conclusion that small changes won\u2019t be enough. To set ourselves up for the next decade, we need to refound Canva, getting back to our roots of small, empowered teams with the freedom to make decisions, take ownership and focus on what matters most for our community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Know more? Email: daniel.vanboom@forbes.com.au<\/p>\n<p>Canva is attempting to turn the AI threat into an opportunity. It last month revealed Craft, its first foundation model that it says will allow it to serve frontier-grade AI far more efficiently than it would be able to by relying on models from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google. It is giving third-party developers access to the model, which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com.au\/news\/innovation\/canva-bets-big-on-craft-foundation-model\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">co-founder Cliff Obrecht said<\/a> represents a new revenue stream for the company.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDecisions like this are never easy, but we back Canva\u2019s decision to make the changes needed to set the company up for its next chapter,\u201d a Blackbird spokesperson said. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cCanva continues to be one of the most widely used platforms on the internet, and its global reach, growing AI capabilities and strong product foundations put it in a good position to benefit from what AI makes possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Refounding Canva<\/p>\n<p>Alongside Atlassian, Canva became a proponent of remote-first working arrangements during the pandemic. As organisations around the world began pulling staff back to the office, Canva\u2019s policy asked employees to work from their closest hub twice a quarter \u2013 and even this requirement was later scrapped.<\/p>\n<p>That will now change. The company is making Sydney its key product centre, moving an undisclosed number of roles there from Canva\u2019s 37 global teams, and mandating regular office work days.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWorking across countries has brought enormous benefits and talent, but it\u2019s also made it harder to bring the right people together to solve complex problems,\u201d Perkins wrote. \u201cFrom January, we expect most Hybrid Canvanauts to spend around 2 to 3 days in the office each week, depending on what makes sense in your area.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The restructure will combine Canva\u2019s product, growth and platform teams into one mega product organisation, which Perkins said will allow for more flexibility and autonomy.<\/p>\n<p>Canva is the latest tech company to announce significant layoffs this year. Atlassian <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com.au\/news\/investing\/atlassian-cuts-another-1600-jobs-amid-ai-shakeup\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">slashed 1,600 staff<\/a> in February, followed by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/josipamajic\/2026\/04\/01\/jack-dorsey-bets-4000-jobs-that-ai-can-replace-the-org-chart\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">4,000 at Jack Dorsey\u2019s Block <\/a>in April. Last week Microsoft offered voluntary redundancies <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com.au\/news\/innovation\/microsoft-buyouts\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">to 60,000 employees<\/a> as it looks for ways to fund its enormous AI investments. <\/p>\n<p>Departing Canva employees will receive \u201cat least six months\u201d of salary, a year of\u00a0healthcare coverage and their company MacBook. The company is also launching the Canva Collective Fund, which will grant up to US$10,000 for employees looking to found a startup or new venture. <\/p>\n<p>Update, 10:23am: Adds comment from Blackbird. <\/p>\n<p>Forbes Women\u00a0is a global network of female business owners, entrepreneurs and changemakers. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com.au\/women\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sign up to Forbes Women here<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Look back on the week that was with hand-picked articles from Australia and around the world. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com.au\/newsletter\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Sign up to the Forbes Australia newsletter here<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com.au\/subscribe\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">become a member here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published on November 4, 2026 Canva has announced a restructure that will impact 1,271 roles as investors markdown&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674311,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[220,218,219,7688,72,68239,1823,61,1831,60,80],"class_list":["post-674310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-billionaires","tag-business","tag-canva","tag-entrepreneurs","tag-ie","tag-investing","tag-ireland","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}