Canva says 1,271 people, or 22% of the company, will be impacted by a reorganisation that co-founder and chief executive Melanie Perkins set out in a note to staff published on its newsroom on 3 November. For some, the note says, that means changed roles or relocating to “centralised hubs”; for others it means leaving.
By our arithmetic, 1,271 people at 22% implies a workforce of about 5,780. Canva does not say how many of the 1,271 will leave and how many will change roles or move.
Perkins calls it “the hardest moment in our thirteen-year history” and writes that “our growth has slowed for the first time in a decade”.
An evergreen Business Engineer explainer on span of control: how many people one manager directs, and why layers of management slow decisions. It explains the general idea and does not discuss Canva.
The key insight: Canva’s 22% counts people impacted, not jobs cut: by our arithmetic it implies a workforce of about 5,780, and the note does not say how many of the 1,271 will leave.
The note lists three changes. First, Canva is “bringing Product, Growth and Platform together into one Product Org”. Perkins writes that improving one part of the product often required navigating between those three groups, “with more handovers and coordination than necessary”.
Second, it is folding narrow subspecialties into broader roles and “simplifying layers, consolidating overlapping responsibilities”. Third, it is co-locating teams: “Sydney will become the primary home for more of our product teams”, and from January most hybrid staff are expected to spend “around 2 to 3 days in the office each week”.
Canva’s workforce by whether the changes in Melanie Perkins’s 3 November note affect them. The 1,271 people and 22% are Canva’s figures; the implied total of about 5,780 and the 4,510 not impacted are our arithmetic.
What Was Posted on X
Faarking hell: Canva announces deep lay offs hitting 22 per cent of its employees.
Mark Di Stefano, Rear Window editor at The Australian Financial Review, posted the 22% figure at 20:49 UTC on 3 November with a screenshot of Canva’s newsroom page. His post says lay offs; Canva’s note says 1,271 people, or 22%, will be impacted, which includes role changes and relocation as well as departures. This piece is built on Canva’s note itself.
The Reason Canva Gives
Perkins writes that “small changes won’t be enough” and that Canva needs “to refound Canva, getting back to our roots of small, empowered teams”. She writes that this has been “our hardest year yet”.
On technology, the note says only that “New technology is transforming what people can create, how they create it, and what they expect from the products they use.” It does not use the words AI or cost, and it does not tie the 1,271 roles to automation. The decisions, Perkins writes, started from “the structures, skills and locations” Canva needs, and only then looked at individual roles.
What People Who Leave Get
Everyone leaving receives “at least six months of salary, inclusive of statutory entitlements, regardless of location”. Canva is removing the one-year vesting cliff for those who joined in the past year, and offers twelve months of continued healthcare where it already provides it, twelve months of its employee assistance programme, career coaching and a year of LinkedIn Premium. Leavers keep their Canva MacBook.
The note also launches a Canva Collective Fund of “US$10,000 grants to departing Canvanauts who want to start something of their own”. Leavers have until 14 December to register interest, and Canva says it “won’t take any ownership or equity” in what they build.
The Numbers Around the Cut
Co-founder and chief operating officer Cliff Obrecht told TechCrunch in February that annual recurring revenue reached $4 billion by the end of 2025, with more than 265 million monthly active users and over 31 million paid users. TechCrunch reported that Canva was last valued at $42 billion in a share sale, and that Obrecht had told Bloomberg the company would go public in the next “couple of years”.
Set against the implied workforce of about 5,780, $4 billion of ARR is about $690,000 per person, by our arithmetic. The two figures are from different dates: the revenue is from the end of 2025, the headcount from November 2026.
What Happens Next
Those affected will get a meeting with a senior leader in their area. With teams in 37 countries, Canva says timing will vary with local requirements. Leavers keep Slack and Gmail access until the end of the week, a company all-hands is set for 10 November, and organisation all-hands start on 11 November.
Mark Di Stefano, Rear Window editor at The Australian Financial Review, posted the 22% figure on X at 20:49 UTC on 3 November, with a screenshot of the newsroom page.
As we read it, the note puts structure first: one Product Org, fewer layers and more teams in Sydney, with individual roles considered only after that design, as Perkins describes the process. It gives no savings target.
As we read it, the support terms are written for a spread-out workforce: a salary floor of at least six months regardless of location, at a company with teams in 37 countries.
As we read it, the note’s only reference to technology is general. Readers looking for an AI-driven cut will not find that claim in Canva’s own words.
Melanie Perkins, co-founder and CEO, Canva note to staff, 3 November 2026
“After exploring a wide range of alternatives, I’ve come to the difficult conclusion that small changes wonโt be enough.”
Three Implications
FOR CANVA STAFF Those impacted get a meeting with a senior leader in their area; leavers get at least six months of salary and can register for a US$10,000 grant until 14 December.
FOR INVESTORS WATCHING A CANVA LISTING Obrecht told TechCrunch in February that ARR reached $4 billion at the end of 2025; Perkins now writes that growth has slowed for the first time in a decade, without giving a figure.
FOR STAFF ASKED TO MOVE Sydney will become the primary home for more product teams, and from January most hybrid staff are expected in the office around 2 to 3 days a week.
The framework opens this way: “The SaaS market is splitting into two irreconcilable extremes—and the middle is being evacuated.”
As we read it, Perkins’s note describes Canva’s response in organisational terms rather than market terms: one Product Org, broader roles and fewer layers, after growth slowed for the first time in a decade. The framework was published in December 2025 and does not discuss Canva.
This piece is based on Perkins’s note as published on Canva’s newsroom on 3 November and on Obrecht’s February interview with TechCrunch. The implied workforce of about 5,780 and the revenue per person are our arithmetic; because Canva rounds the share to 22%, the implied total could be roughly 5,650 to 5,910.
The note does not say how many of the 1,271 leave, which countries or teams lose the most roles, what the support package costs, or how much growth has slowed. Canva has not published 2026 revenue in the sources we read. We did not contact Canva.
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Canva says 1,271 people, 22% of the company, are impacted by a merger of its product groups, fewer layers and a move of more teams to Sydney. By our arithmetic that implies about 5,780 staff. Leavers get at least six months of salary, a waived vesting cliff for recent joiners and an optional $10,000 grant to start something.
A note on sourcing. The 1,271 people, the 22% and the support terms come from Melanie Perkins’s note to staff as published on Canva’s newsroom on 3 November. Revenue, user and valuation figures are from Cliff Obrecht’s February 2026 interview with TechCrunch. The implied workforce of about 5,780 and the revenue per person are our arithmetic. We did not contact Canva.
Gennaro Cuofano is a CRO and tech executive who has worked in AI since late 2015, starting with bringing NLP, natural-language generation, voice and chatbot products to the marketing industry. His background is in law and finance: he holds a Master's degree in Law and an International MBA with an emphasis on corporate finance (LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego, 2012), and worked as a financial analyst at a real-estate investment firm in San Diego and as an assistant controller. His work focuses on business model strategy, business engineering and, more broadly, structural analysis: how companies make money, read from their own filings. He created FourWeekMBA and leads research there and at The Business Engineer, his newsletter on AI and business strategy, with over 95,000 subscribers and more than 1,000 published analyses. His writing has also appeared on Entrepreneur (for example, How to Digitize a Family Business in Europe) and HackerNoon. Find him on LinkedIn and Substack. See how we source.
