Canva Restructuring Affects 1,271 People, or 22% of Its Workforce, as Growth Slows
Canva said a restructuring will affect 1,271 people, about 22% of its staff, in the first large redundancy round in the design company's 13-year history, as growth slowed for the first time in a decade.
Canva announced a restructuring this week that will affect 1,271 people, about 22% of its workforce, in the first large redundancy round in the company’s 13-year history. Co-founder and chief executive Melanie Perkins told staff in a note that the company needed to return to small, empowered teams.
The figure covers more than outright job losses. Some of the 1,271 people will lose their jobs, while others will change roles or be asked to relocate to central hubs, and Canva has not said how many will leave. Sydney will become the main base for more product teams, and most hybrid staff will work in an office two to three days a week from January.
Slower growth and higher AI costs
Perkins said growth had slowed for the first time in a decade and wrote that small changes would not be enough. In August, Canva cut its 2026 revenue growth forecast from 30% to 20%, after the cost of serving AI features on outside models ran above budget, according to Fast Company. Fast Company also reported that Perkins told Fortune in August that demand for new AI features had far exceeded expectations.
As part of the overhaul, Canva will merge its Product, Growth and Platform teams into a single product organization and cut management layers and overlapping roles. Perkins did not name artificial intelligence as the direct cause of the changes, and her statement does not explicitly identify AI as the cause.
What departing staff will receive
People who leave will receive at least six months of salary, 12 months of health coverage where Canva offers it, and a year of LinkedIn Premium, according to Tech Times. They can keep their work laptops, and a Canva Collective Fund will offer $10,000 grants to departing staff who want to start a business or run a community project. Staff must register interest by December 14, 2026.
Canva will hold a company-wide meeting on November 10, with talks in each part of the business from November 11, and conversations with affected staff will be staggered across the 37 countries where it has teams. Canva has been preparing for a possible listing, Bloomberg reported. Its valuation reached $40 billion in 2021 and fell to about $26 billion a year later during a broad tech selloff.
Reporting based on coverage by Bloomberg, Fast Company and Tech Times.
