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Canva announces major job cuts employees affected in global restructure

Updated 6:25 PM ET · 12:30 PM ETConfirmedShare via:          

Business Desk

In Short: Canva, an Australian design software company, announced significant job cuts affecting 1,271 employees, or 22% of its workforce, as it faces slowing growth and technological changes.

Australian design technology company Canva is restructuring its global operations, impacting 1,271 employees, or 22% of its workforce, with job cuts, role changes, and relocation requirements. Co-founder and CEO Melanie Perkins described the decision as 'the hardest moment' in the company's 13-year history, noting that it had been Canva's hardest year yet, with growth slowing for the first time in a decade.

Perkins wrote in a memo to employees that the company needed to 'refound Canva' and return to small, empowered teams. The restructuring will see Sydney become the primary hub for more of Canva's product teams, with the company consolidating operations and encouraging greater in-person collaboration. From January 2027, employees working under hybrid arrangements will be expected to spend two to three days a week in the office.

The restructuring follows Canva's most challenging year, with the company recording its first slowdown in growth in a decade. Canva will provide support to employees affected by the restructuring, including severance packages that include at least six months of salary, 12 months of continued healthcare coverage, and the option to keep their work laptops. Additionally, Canva is launching the Canva Collective Fund, which will grant up to $10,000 for employees looking to start a startup or new venture.

Founded in 2013 by Perkins, her now-husband Cliff Obrecht, and Cameron Adams, Canva makes online design software used by more than 265 million people a month to create everything from school posters and birthday invitations to work presentations and social media posts. Canva entered 2026 valued at $40 billion and was one of the world's hottest IPO prospects, with plans to make a bigger debut on the Nasdaq than any Australian tech company before it.

Rowe Price marked down the value of its Canva shares by 20%, down to $1,189 per share, giving it an implied valuation of $30.4 billion as of August 31. The restructuring will affect 1,271 employees, or 22% of the company, with some workers having their responsibilities changed and others asked to relocate as Canva consolidates parts of its operations.

The job cuts come amid slowing growth at the company and coincide with a wider wave of buyouts and layoffs announced by some of the biggest names in the tech sector. Canva's restructuring reflects wider disruption across the software industry, where AI-powered tools are remodelling how businesses develop products and compete for customers. New technology is transforming what people can create, how they create it, and what they expect from the products they use.

For employees leaving the company, Canva said it will provide severance packages that include at least six months of salary, inclusive of legally required entitlements, regardless of location. Canva will also offer $10,000 grants to departing employees who want to start a business or pursue a community project through a new Canva Collective Fund. The company is making significant changes to its organizational structure, team locations, and workforce, with 1,271 people, or 22% of the company, to be impacted.

What this adds

Background

What's confirmed

• Australian design technology company Canva is restructuring its global operations, with 1,271 employees, representing 22% of its workforce, set to be affected by job cuts, role changes and relocation requirements.
• Canva's restructuring follows what Perkins described as its most challenging year, with the company recording its first slowdown in growth in a decade.
• Canva will also offer $10,000 grants to departing employees who want to start a business or pursue a community project through a new Canva Collective Fund.
• Australian-founded design software company Canva has announced a major global restructure affecting 1,271 employees, or 22 per cent of its workforce, as it responds to slowing growth and changes in the technology industry.
• Accueil LNT News Stache Canva is restructuring 22% of its workforce.
• 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.

What's still developing

• Canva, one of Australia's best-known startups, has announced major job cuts affecting 22% of its workforce, or 1,271 employees, as part of a broader restructuring plan.
• The news, which surfaced early Thursday through leaked internal memos and reports from senior leadership, suggests that the 16,000 job cuts announced in January were merely the opening salvo of a much larger “Phase One” restructuring.
• This is supported with billions of dollars by Amazon and Google (the rivals of OpenAI’s major investor Microsoft) and was founded in 2021 by four former OpenAI employees ( Daniela Amodei, Dario Amodei, Jack Clark, and Jared Kaplan ).
• Image generated via Google’s Nano Banana 2 Canva is cutting jobs while changing how its product teams operate and where employees work.
• Fortune said in August that Canva reduced its expected 2026 revenue growth from 30% to 20% after high AI feature costs prompted a slower rollout.
• Canva operates across 37 countries, meaning the timing and process of consultations will vary according to local employment requirements.
• Canva, one of the world’s most popular graphic design platforms, is facing a major workforce shake-up.
• “Layoffs affect people’s livelihoods and their families. Is a little more empathy too much to ask for. Companies should treat employees as people, not merely as resources. What Canva has done is an example of how layoffs can be handled with greater empathy and consideration. The unfortunate reality is that this remains an exception rather than the norm. We should be asking companies to make this the standard way of treating people when they have to let them go,” said Pratham Kohli, an AI engineering professional.
• “Canva 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.” Alongside Atlassian, Canva became a proponent of remote-first working arrangements during the pandemic.
• They have until December 14 to register their interest.
• As part of the next steps, those affected by the cuts will receive a minimum of six months of salary, 12 months of continued healthcare coverage, career support while employees navigate the changes and the one-year vesting restrictions will be removed for employees who joined in the last year, among other provisions.
• While the technology industry continues to invest heavily in artificial intelligence (AI), Canva has not directly identified AI as the reason for the restructuring.

Sources

• Anzlink
• Forbeslink
• IBTimes Indialink
• Ialink
• Lntlink
• Print21link
• Silicon Republiclink
• TechRepubliclink
• The Australia Todaylink
• The Indian Expresslink
• Warpbeatlink
• Smhlink
• Adweeklink
• Brandsynariolink
• Fox Businesslink
• WarpBeat — background on Canva Restructures, Affecting 1,271 Employees link
• ABC News (Australia) — video link