Canva Cuts 1,271 Jobs, 22 Percent of Staff, in "Refounding" Push

Canva will cut 1,271 people, or 22 percent of its staff, co-founder and CEO Melanie Perkins announced today. The figure is confirmed, not an estimate. It lands one day after Squarespace announced layoffs affecting 19 percent of its own workforce.

The Australian design software company frames the reduction as a structural reset rather than a routine cost cut. "After exploring a wide range of alternatives, I've come to the difficult conclusion that small changes won't be enough," Perkins wrote in her note to staff. "To set ourselves up for the next decade, we need to refound Canva, getting back to our roots of small, empowered teams with the freedom to make decisions, take ownership and focus on what matters most for our community."

That is a strong claim. It deserves scrutiny. "Refounding" is Perkins's word, not a measured outcome. No revenue, growth, or profitability figures accompany the announcement. The note does not say which teams lose the most headcount, nor how many of the 1,271 face outright dismissal versus relocation.

What happens to the affected workers?

The 1,271 people will not all leave the company. Perkins described three distinct fates in a single sentence. "For some people, this will mean changes to their roles or being asked to relocate to centralised hubs," she said. "Sadly, it will also mean saying goodbye to teammates and friends who have helped build Canva into what it is today."

So the 22 percent number bundles together role changes, forced relocations, and true layoffs. Canva did not break the figure into those categories. Employees who do leave receive a defined package:

• At least six months of salary
• Twelve months of healthcare coverage
• Career support resources

The severance terms are concrete and above common market practice. The company has not stated whether the salary floor varies by tenure or seniority.

How will the company reorganize?

Canva will merge its Product, Growth, and Platform teams into a single product organization. The stated aims are "simplifying layers" and "consolidating overlapping responsibilities." That language confirms what the restructuring implies: the company carries duplicated functions across teams.

Sydney gains from the change. Canva will make the city "the primary home for more of our product teams, as well as roles in other Specialties where shared context and close collaboration are especially important." Which specialties qualify, and how many relocations this forces, remains unstated.

An office attendance mandate arrives alongside the restructuring. Starting in January, Canva will "expect" most hybrid employees to spend 2 to 3 days per week in an office, "depending on what makes sense in your area." The word "expect" leaves room for interpretation. It is not stated whether the policy carries enforcement mechanisms or affects compensation.

The return-to-office push and the consolidation into centralized hubs point in the same direction. Canva wants its remaining staff physically clustered, primarily in Sydney, inside fewer and smaller teams.

Why now?

Perkins tied the decision to a ten-year horizon, not to a quarterly shortfall. But the announcement arrives in a week when Squarespace, a direct competitor in website and design tools, cut 19 percent of its staff. Two adjacent companies shedding roughly a fifth of their workforces within 24 hours suggests sector-wide pressure on design software makers, whatever the individual strategic rationales.

Canva's note is silent on the financial trigger. There is no mention of slowing revenue, rising AI development costs, or valuation pressure. The company is private, so it publishes no quarterly numbers to test the "refounding" narrative against. Readers should treat the ten-year vision as a roadmap, not a result.

The skeptics' reading is straightforward. A 22 percent reduction, a merger of three core teams, and a return-to-office mandate together resemble a conventional efficiency drive, dressed in founder language. The optimists' reading is that Canva is preemptively restructuring before conditions force harsher cuts. Neither reading can be settled from today's announcement alone.

What is verifiable today: 1,271 roles change, one in five workers is affected, severance is defined, and Sydney becomes the company's center of gravity. Whether "refounding" produces faster products or simply a smaller company will show in Canva's hiring, shipping cadence, and any future funding disclosures over the coming year.