Veteran artistic market Envato is about to shed as much as 200 jobs – a 3rd of its headcount – following a strategic evaluation of the 20-year-old tech pioneer.
The dimensions of the cuts was reported on Mumbrella, however Envato mentioned in a press release to Startup Every day that whereas the restructure is underway “we’re not able to share particulars about position reductions or numbers”.
CEO Hichame Assi mentioned notified employees by way of e mail earlier this week that following “a strategic evaluation of our group construction and operations”, the enterprise is “making a variety of vital modifications to the Envato group globally this week”. A concentrate on AI was one of many causes behind the restructure.
“These modifications will embody redundancies, redeployments, position modifications, promotions and reporting line modifications, and can affect all groups throughout Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and the US,” he wrote.
Assi instructed employees the evaluation got down to reimagine Envato’s group construction “to execute our technique and reply to quickly altering buyer expectations” for the enterprise he’s led since founder Collis Ta’eed stepped down from the CEO role in late 2020.
“We’re lowering the variety of layers, creating smaller and extra centered groups, and elevating the significance of particular person contributors so extra of us can straight affect buyer outcomes,” he wrote.
“In parallel, we’re lowering operational prices to make sure we are able to make investments additional in product, advertising and AI.”
Envato was acquired by US-listed imagery company Shutterstock in a deal value US$245 million (A$373m) in 2024, 18 years after Ta’eed and his spouse Cyan launched the startup in a Bondi storage in 2006.
AI job cuts
The newest restructure comes practically four years after Assi cut around 100 roles in mid-2022 as a part of a “renewed and sharpened enterprise focus will guarantee we proceed on our long-term development trajectory”.
Since then Envato’s workforce has grown again to the identical measurement as that earlier cull, round 600 individuals.
The dramatic discount in headcount comes inside per week of ASX-listed logistics software program enterprise WiseTech announcing it would shed 2000 coding jobs, from its 7000-strong workforce and US fintech Block, owner of BNPL Afterpay, said it would slash 40% of its headcount – 4000 roles, with CEO Jack Dorsey citing AI as the rationale.
The Commonwealth Financial institution additionally mentioned it plans to chop 300 jobs and spend $90 million on a three-year AI abilities coaching challenge known as the Future Workforce Program
Melbourne unicorn Tradition Amp was an early mover in tackling AI interruption, deciding to cut 60 jobs last November as its AI focus grows
