Canva Announces First Major Layoffs in 13 Years as AI Costs Weigh on Business

At a glance

Design platform Canva is reportedly cutting or reassigning 1,271 employees, about 22% of its total workforce, and moving some teams to its Sydney headquarters. The company says it wants to make its organization faster and simpler.

Key points

1. 1

   CEO Perkins said the product, growth, and platform teams will be merged into one and that narrow specialist roles will be reduced.

2. 2

   The company has not disclosed the specific business reasons behind the layoffs.

3. 3

   In August, Canva lowered its 2026 revenue growth forecast from 30% to 20%, because the cost of processing AI tasks rose sharply.

4. 4

   The company explained that more users than expected are using its AI features, so it needs to lower the cost of each task.

Why it matters

It shows that services offering heavy AI features can see operating costs grow alongside their user numbers.