Australian design giant Canva hits 1,271 staff with job cuts and relocations after 'our hardest year yet'

Canva CEO Melanie Perkins told staff Wednesday that the cuts represent "without doubt the hardest moment in our thirteen-year history," citing slowing growth and surging AI integration costs as the drivers behind the company's first redundancy round. The $44 billion Australian design platform will merge its product, growth and platform functions into a single unit and strip out management layers to restore "small, empowered teams."

Perkins said she needs to 'refound' Canva, with hybrid workers required in the office two to three days a week from January.

Backers Blackbird Ventures and Airtree have already cut the firm's valuation from A$60bn to around A$49bn amid fears over AI disruption.

Employees leaving the company will receive at least six months' salary and 12 months of healthcare coverage, and are free to keep their work MacBooks.