Dropbox cut staff again and says goodbye to 528 employeesequal to 20% of the global workforce. The announcement comes directly from the CEO Drew Houstonwhich points the finger at the complexity of the organizational structure and the management levels considered excessive, elements that are slowing down company operations.
The decision follows a previous cut of 500 units carried out in April 2023. The reasons for the choice are many: on the one hand, the main business of file synchronization and sharing has reached a stage of maturity, on the other there is a general weakening of demandaccompanied by significant macroeconomic challenges.
New strategy and focus on artificial intelligence
The company, as reported on official blogtip to focus your efforts on Dasha universal search system powered by artificial intelligence dedicated to business customers. To support this transition, Dropbox has allocated between 63 and 68 million dollars in order to manage the reduction of staff in the best possible way and without friction, ensuring outgoing employees receive 16 weeks’ salary plus an additional week for each year of service.
Dropbox’s financial numbers aren’t that concerning, howevershowing limited growth: in the second quarter of 2024, revenue reached $634.5 million, an increase of 1.9% compared to the previous year. Paid users rose from 18.04 million to 18.22 million over the 12-month period, while net profit grew from $43.2 million to $110.5 million.
Houston emphasizes that there is a need to organize aggressive investments in the AI sectorhighlighting how competitors are already allocating hundreds of millions of dollars to this area. The restructuring of Dropbox therefore aims to create a leaner and more efficient structure, eliminating areas that have shown performance below expectations or where investments have been oversized. Following the layoffs, the market reacted positively with shares rising by 1.36%. The company promised a focus on security, organization and content sharing, with particular attention to Dropbox Dash as a universal search solution powered by the inevitable AI.
Source: www.hwupgrade.it
