Canva Inc. is overhauling its organization, affecting more than one fifth of employees. In a note to staff posted Wednesday, Chief Executive Officer Melanie Perkins said 1,271 people, or 22% of the company, will either lose their jobs, move into different roles, or relocate to central hubs.
"New technology is transforming what people can create, how they create it, and what they expect from the products they use," Perkins wrote, adding, "I've come to the difficult conclusion that small changes won't be enough." Perkins, who co-founded the company with Cliff Obrecht and Cameron Adams, called it the toughest point in Canva's 13-year history.
The shake-up tracks a broader reset across software, where investors have erased billions in market value on worries that tools like Anthropic PBC's Claude could eat into incumbents' businesses. AI is letting users do more without specialized software, and employers are leaning on it to run leaner teams.
According to Perkins, Canva must streamline into a simpler operation and move back to small, empowered teams, trimming narrowly specialized roles. She did not specify how many of the affected employees would be outright job losses. The pivot follows a slowdown in the Sydney-based firm's growth for the first time in ten years.
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More product teams will be headquartered in Sydney. Perkins said in-person collaboration will increase, and most hybrid employees are expected to be in the office two to three days each week starting in January.
Canva has been laying groundwork for a potential listing, which makes the timing more financially sensitive. The company's valuation peaked at $40 billion in 2021, then fell to about $26 billion the next year during a broad tech selloff. Its dollar valuation later recovered, but the impact of more recent volatility is still uncertain.
The AI buildout has come with job cuts and big spending, and investors are asking when those investments will pay off. For context on AI infrastructure, see Bloomberg Australia's podcast, Data Center Economics Versus Hype.
The bottom line: Canva is tightening its focus as AI rewires the design stack, while markets test who turns AI spend into cash flow. If design platforms can keep users and pricing power as AI commoditizes basic tasks, that matters for software multiples and any future Canva listing.
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