Atlassian - the giant behind Trello and Jira office applications - announced the dismissal of 1,600 employees to focus on the artificial intelligence (AI) development strategy. This cut is equivalent to 10% of the company's global workforce.
Notably, more than 900 positions sacked belonged to the core department of software research and development. The company's leadership admitted that the explosion of AI has completely changed the game, making many human skills redundant. To realize this "gamble", the company even replaced the current technology director with leading experts in machinery.
Mr. Mike Cannon-Brookes - co-founder of Atlassian - frankly shared that this is a necessary decision for the company to be financially autonomous for huge investments in AI.
Instead of maintaining the traditional human resources team, the company will focus resources on intelligent algorithms to optimize the apparatus. He emphasized that AI is changing the human structure that the company needs to survive in the new era.
The massive layoff decision was made immediately after Atlassian's market capitalization fell more than half since the beginning of 2026. Investors are concerned that if products are not quickly "AI-ized", the company's software will soon become outdated.
As soon as the information about the layoff of 1,600 people was announced, the company's stock price immediately increased by 4% on the Nasdaq, showing market support for this risky move.
Although the company committed to supporting a compensation package of about 4 months' salary, the labor federations still reacted very strongly. They believe that the business has been too harsh when dismissing experienced experts who have been attached from the early days just to chase after the technology fever.
Atlassian is just the latest name in the wave of personnel "cleanning" to focus on AI of the global technology world. This restructuring is expected to cost the company about 236 million USD in compensation costs, but is considered the price to pay to not be left behind in the artificial intelligence race that is hotter than ever.
