Dropbox is laying off 500 employees in a bid to cut costs and hire new talent to build out its AI division. “In an ideal world, we’d simply shift people from one team to another. And we’ve done that wherever possible,” wrote CEO Drew Houston in a company memo. “However, our next stage of growth requires a different mix of skill sets, particularly in AI and early-stage product development.
Why it matters: This marks a significant pivot away from the company’s cloud business, which has slowed in growth recently. By shifting its focus to AI, Dropbox will have the capability to compete better as the world latches onto a rapidly advancing AI future.
- “The changes we’re announcing today, while painful, are necessary for our future,” Houston notes. “I’m determined to ensure that Dropbox is at the forefront of the AI era, just as we were at the forefront of the shift to mobile and the cloud.”
- At the end of 2022, Dropbox had 3,118 full-time employees, with 2,583 being located in the United States.
- “The AI era of computing has finally arrived … The opportunity in front of us is greater than ever, but so is our need to act with urgency to seize it.”
