Twilio layoffs accelerate

Another 1,400 employees shown the door

Cloud communications firm Twilio has announced another round of redundancies, taking its total headcount reduction to about 2,200.

The company already laid off about 11% of its 8,992-strong workforce in September, and has now announced further job cuts affecting 17% of its staff.

If that is based on its announced headcount at the end of September, before the first round of redundancies, that would be 1,530 people. If the company is judging it based on current numbers, with redundancies taken into account, it would be about 1,390 employees.

CEO Jeff Lawson has previously blamed the redundacies on growth that was too fast, causing the company to scale out of control.

Back in September, Lawson said he wanted to return the focus to "core products and services." In his latest note announcing the new layoffs, he said Twilio would restructure into two separate business units: Twilio Data & Applications and Twilio Communications.

Reiterating his point from September, Lawson said "it's clear that we've gotten too big, especially in Communications... It is painful to part ways with so many talented people - but it's necessary to get our two businesses into the right shape to succeed."

The previous layoffs, he added, were predicated on streamlining the company as it was structured then. The newly announced redundancies are based around the reorganisation and restructure.

Affected employees will receive 12 weeks of base pay, plus another week for each year spent with Twilio.

The company is cutting spending in other areas, too. Lawson announced that Twilio would be closing some offices permanently due to the shift to remote work, although will maintain some "global hubs and satellite offices."

"We've seen very low office utilisation, so we're going to redirect some of our cost savings into higher travel budgets so you can see one another more often - something we've all been missing a lot."

The exec team has also decided to close Twilio Recharge, a four-week paid sabbatical programme that employees can use every three years. Lawson said he believes in its value but its introduction was "ill-timed given our profitability goals."

Finally, a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission reveals that the company board is lowering Lawson's own salary, from $134,000 to $65,535.