Cloud storage giant Dropbox sacks 500 employees amid slowing growth

Cloud storage giant Dropbox announced on Thursday that it is laying off 16 per cent of its workforce, or about 500 employees, due to slowing growth.

Dropbox CEO Drew Houston said that he takes full ownership of this decision.

"If you`ve been impacted, you`ll be sent a calendar invitation for a one-on-one with a leader on your team and a member of the People team to go through details of your departure, package, and to ask any questions you may have," he informed.

Houston said that while the business is profitable, "our growth has been slowing".

"Part of this is due to the natural maturation of our existing businesses, but more recently, headwinds from the economic downturn have put pressure on our customers and, in turn, on our business," he said.

As a result, some investments that used to deliver positive returns are no longer sustainable, the company informed.

In January 2021, Dropbox had laid off 315 employees amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The impacted employees will be eligible for 16 weeks of pay, with one additional week of pay for each completed year of tenure at Dropbox.

"All impacted employees will receive their Q2 equity vest. All employees will be eligible for up to six months of COBRA in the US, and similar equivalents where applicable internationally, as well as Modern Health support," said the company.

The impacted employees will be eligible to keep company devices (phones, tablets, laptops, and peripherals) for personal use.

"These transitions are never easy, but 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. We`ll need all hands on deck as machine intelligence gives us the tools to reimagine our existing businesses and invent new ones," the CEO said.