Cloudflare is cutting more than 1,100 jobs across the world, according to a memo sent to staff on May 7. The cybersecurity company said that the layoffs are part of a sweeping reorganisation to prepare for what it calls the agentic AI era. As reported by Business Insider, the layoff announcement was made by the company just hours after it reported first-quarter earnings that bear Wall Street expectations, though shares fell more than 14% in after-hours trading. The executives noted that Cloudflare’s internal use of the AI has surged over 600% in the past three months with employees across engineering, HR, finance, and marketing running thousands of AI agent sessions daily.The memo explained that the company must rethink its structure to move faster and deliver more value to customers. “The way we work at Cloudflare has fundamentally changed. We don’t just build and sell AI tools and platforms. We are our own most demanding customer,” the leadership team wrote.
Cloudflare CEO’s personal touch
The memo also highlighted that Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince has personally sent every offer letter the company has extended, a practice he viewed as symbolic of Cloudflare’s growth and talent acquisition. Prince and co-founder Michelle Zatlyn said it was important that the layoff message come directly from them, rather than trickling down through managers.Cloudflare also stressed that the layoffs are not about cost-cutting or employee performance but about reimagining processes and roles to align with AI-driven workflows. Departing employees will receive severance packages through the end of 2026, extended healthcare coverage, and vested equity through August 15 benefits described as “industry-leading.”
Read the compete memo here
Team:We are writing to let you know directly that we’ve made the decision to reduce Cloudflare’s workforce by more than 1,100 employees globally.The way we work at Cloudflare has fundamentally changed. We don’t just build and sell AI tools and platforms. We are our own most demanding customer. Cloudflare’s usage of AI has increased by more than 600% in the last three months alone. Employees across the company from engineering to HR to finance to marketing run thousands of AI agent sessions each day to get their work done. That means we have to be intentional in how we architect our company for th eagentic AI era in order to supercharge the value we deliver to our customers and to honor our mission to help build a better Internet for everyone, everywhere.Today is a hard day. This decision unfortunately means saying goodbye to teammates who have contributed meaningfully to our mission and to building Cloudflare into one of the world’s most successful companies. We want to be clear that this decision is not a reflection of the individual work or talent of those leaving us. Instead, we are reimagining every internal process, team, and role across the company. Today’s actions are not a cost-cutting exercise or an assessment of individuals’ performance; they are about Cloudflare defining how a world-class, high-growth company operates and creates value in the agentic AI era.This is a moment we need to own as founders and leaders of the company. Matthew has personally sent out every offer letter we’ve extended. It is a practice he has always looked forward to because it represented our growth and the incredible talent joining our mission. It didn’t feel right for this message to come from anyone other than the two of us. Rather than trickling out notices through managers, we will be sending emails to every employee.Within the next hour, every member of our global team will receive an email from both of us clarifying how this change affects them. For those departing today, we will send this update to both their personal and Cloudflare addresses to ensure they receive the information immediately.It’s important to us that we treat departing team members right and in a way that exceeds what we’ve seen from other companies. We believe acting with empathy isn’t about avoiding hard decisions but rather about how you treat people when those decisions are made. If we are asking our team to be world-class, we have a reciprocal obligation to be world-class in how we treat them. We are pairing the directness of these measures with severance packages that lead the industry. The packages for departing employees will include the equivalent of their full base pay through the end of 2026. Healthcare coverage is different across the globe, and if you’re in the United States, we’ll continue to provide support through the end of the year. We are also vesting equity for departing team members through August 15th, so they receive stock beyond their departure date. And, if departing team members haven’t hit their one-year cliffs, we are going to waive those and vest their pro-rated equity through August as well.We’ve asked the team to do this only once, as hard as that may be today. We don’t want to do it again for the foreseeable future. By taking decisive action now, we provide immediate clarity to those departing and protect the stability of the team that remains. We are making these changes now because making smaller, repeated cuts or dragging a reorganization out over multiple quarters creates prolonged emotional uncertainty for employees and stalls our ability to build. It’s the right thing to do; it’s the honest thing to do; and it reflects the values of the company we are continuing to build.Cloudflare started as a digitally native company built in the cloud. That allowed us to catch up to and pass companies that had a head start of years or decades but were slowed down by outdated systems and processes. As we’ve now become the leader, we cannot rest on the workflows and organizational structures that worked yesterday. We’re confident that our reshaped organization will be even faster and more innovative as we continue building the future.To those departing us: you’ve helped build the strong foundation Cloudflare stands on today. We have the utmost respect for your work and gratitude for the impact you have made. We’re confident you will land at other great places and build many future great companies, bringing with you a unique set of skills learned while building Cloudflare.Transparency is a core principle at Cloudflare, and it was important that you hear this from us first. We will be heading to our earnings conference call at 2 PM PT, when we’ll share more. We also plan to address today’s announcements live with the team at our all-hands meeting.It’s not an easy day, but it’s the right decision. Our mission to help build a better Internet is more important now than ever, and there’s a lot of work left to be done.
