Twilio Inc. (NYSE: TWLO) reported its plan to cut around 1,500 employees or 17% of its workforce. This announcement is after the company had already laid off 11% of its workforce as part of its restructuring plan that was announced last year. Twilio had a total of 8,992 employees as of September 2022. In an email to employees by CEO Jeff Lawson, he announced that the additional cuts were driven by a necessity to reorganize the company in order to succeed.
Lawson mentioned that the company will form two business units to assist the company spend less and increase efficiency. The Twilio Data & Applications unit will be led by Elena Donio while the Twilio Communications unit will be lead by Khozema Shipchandler.
Lawson said it is clear that Twilio needed to carry out “significant structural changes” in order to better execute its strategy. “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,” he said.
I know this company – the great people, the tremendous empathy, our collective desire to do the right thing. These changes hurt. The weeks ahead will be about processing all this change and working together to acclimate to our new structure. While tremendously difficult, I believe these actions will put us on the right path for executing our strategy and creating an even stronger, more efficient, and more effective Twilio.
