For the first time in its 13-year history, design giant Canva announced on November 4 that it will undergo major company restructuring and will cut or relocate 1,271 employees, comprising 22 percent of its workforce.
Co-founder and CEO Melanie Perkins wrote a long memo titled “An important update on our team,” as transparency to the whole Canva staff on the company changes. According to Perkins, it is undoubtedly the “hardest moment” the Australian company has faced since its establishment in 2013.
The CEO cited three changes within the company overhaul, which are to simplify how the team comes together to build Canva, reduce subspecialization and collapse layers to broaden ownership, and relocate for an increase in in-person collaboration.
“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,” the chief executive explained in the letter.
Although Perkins did not directly mention artificial intelligenceArtificial IntelligenceComputer systems that generate or analyze text, images, and music, now reshaping how art is made and how media and work operate. In the Philippines, it raises live questions aboutGo to Artificial Intelligence Glossary (AI), she did acknowledge that “new technology” continues to transform what and how people create, and what users expect from Canva. The company has increasingly adopted AI tools since the pandemic, and now has built its own proprietary models — Craft (image generator) and Brush (design editing model) — for the freemium software. In early 2026, they introduced Canva AI 2.0, offering iterative agentic editing and layered object intelligence. The rollout was temporarily halted due to soaring product costs of frontier intelligence models and a revenue downgrade, as reported by the Australian Financial Review.
Despite the heavy news, users online appreciated how the announcement felt “humane” and deeply sympathetic toward those affected. Perkins listed the company’s financial and mental compensation for those departing, which includes a six-month salary, 12 months of continued healthcare coverage, dedicated career support through one-on-one training and LinkedIn Premium, a talent directory, and most of all, laid-off employees get to keep their Canva-issued MacBooks.
In 2014, the Philippines became the first place outside Australia to establish a local office for Canva, which now reportedly has over 1,000 employees in its base. As of this writing, the local team has yet to provide information on the number of Filipino employees affected by the major layoff.
frequently asked questions
CEO Melanie Perkins announced on November 4 that it will cut or relocate 1,271 employees, about 22% of its workforce, in its first major restructuring in its 13-year history.
No, though CEO Melanie Perkins acknowledged that new technology is changing how people create.
Canva is offering six months’ salary, 12 months of continued healthcare coverage, one-on-one career support, a talent directory, and LinkedIn Premium. Laid-off employees also keep their company-issued MacBooks.
The design platform has recently launched its proprietary intelligence models, Craft (images) and Brush (design editing). Canva AI 2.0’s rollout was temporarily halted over soaring model costs and a revenue downgrade, the Australian Financial Review reported.
Not yet confirmed. Canva Philippines, the company’s first office outside Australia since 2014, reportedly has over 1,000 employees but has yet to disclose how many Filipino employees are affected.
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