Canva is cutting 1,271 employees—22 percent of its global workforce—and consolidating product teams in Sydney as part of a restructuring aimed at tightening the company's cost structure and decision-making.
Co-founder and CEO Melanie Perkins said the changes are necessary to "refound Canva" for the next decade, moving away from the distributed team model the company has operated under since going remote during the pandemic.
The restructuring consolidates Canva's Product, Growth, and Platform teams into a single product organization, reducing management layers and overlapping responsibilities. Sydney will become the primary hub for these consolidated teams. Starting in January, the company will institute hybrid work requirements—typically two to three days per week in office—for remaining employees.
Departers will receive at least six months of severance, twelve months of healthcare coverage, and career support resources.
The move reflects a broader recalibration in the SaaS sector. Squarespace announced a 19 percent workforce reduction the day before, signaling that companies that scaled aggressively during the pandemic are now prioritizing unit economics over headcount.
