Canva cuts 1,271 roles, 22% of its global workforce

Canva will cut, redeploy or relocate 1,271 roles, 22% of its global workforce, co-founder and CEO Melanie Perkins told staff on November 3.

The note, published on Canva's newsroom, says "1,271 people, or 22% of Canva, will be impacted." Some will see changes to their roles or be asked to move to central hubs. Others will leave. Perkins did not say how the 1,271 breaks down across those three outcomes. Forbes Australia reports the memo went to "5,000-plus employees."

"This is without doubt the hardest moment in our thirteen-year history," Perkins wrote. She said "our growth has slowed for the first time in a decade," that this was "our hardest year yet," and that small changes would not be enough. The plan is to "refound Canva" around "small, empowered teams."

Three structural changes follow. Canva merges its Product, Growth and Platform teams into one Product Org. It cuts layers and folds narrower subspecialties into broader roles so teams own goals from start to finish. It also co-locates closely connected teams, with Sydney becoming the main base for more product teams, according to Yahoo Finance. TechCrunch reports Canva is also moving toward hybrid work and asking people into an office a few days a week.

The note spells out the terms. Everyone gets at least six months of salary, inclusive of statutory entitlements, regardless of location. Canva removes the one-year vesting cliff for people who joined in the past year. It continues healthcare for twelve months in countries where it already provides it, extends its employee assistance program to family members, and offers one-on-one career coaching, interview preparation and a year of LinkedIn Premium. Departing staff keep their Canva MacBook. The new Canva Collective Fund offers US$10,000 grants to people starting a business or a community project, with interest registered by December 14 and no equity taken.

Perkins attributes the cut to slowing growth. In August, Canva cut its 2026 revenue growth forecast to 20% from 30%; TechCrunch links that to the cost of running AI features. Yahoo Finance quotes her telling Fortune that Canva slowed its AI rollout "while we rebuilt the architecture, reduced unit costs and strengthened the business model."

Canva's note says technology is changing what people create and expect. It does not name AI. The AI framing is the press's: Fortune calls it "Canva's AI reckoning," and TechCrunch points to rising AI running costs and competition from AI startups and general-purpose chatbots such as ChatGPT and Gemini. Canva shipped its first in-house image model, Canva Craft, on October 22, a launch SLOP TV covered.

Investors marked Canva down before the cuts. Blackbird lowered its carrying value by 17%, from $42 billion to $34.9 billion, Yahoo Finance reports. A T. Rowe Price filing with the SEC implied a US$30.4 billion valuation as of August 31, Forbes Australia reports. Forbes Australia also says Canva entered 2026 valued at US$40 billion. The company has no set IPO date.

Other software companies have cut at the same scale. Yahoo Finance, citing Layoffs.fyi, counts 344 tech companies and 139,004 layoffs in 2026 so far, after Atlassian's 1,600 cuts in March and WiseTech's 2,000.

Canva is the tool many creators already pay for thumbnails, decks and social video, so its roadmap and pricing matter beyond its own staff. Perkins's note addresses neither.

Canva holds a company all-hands on November 10 to discuss the changes.