Dropbox
- Dropbox is laying off 315 employees, or 11% of its workforce, the company announced on Wednesday.
- “The steps we’re taking today are painful, but necessary,” CEO Drew Houston said in a statement.
- Dropbox announced its first profitable quarter in May 2020, driven in part by a increased online work during the coronavirus pandemic.
- Olivia Nottebohm will step down from her role as chief operating officer on February 5.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Dropbox is laying off 315 employees, or 11% of its workforce.
CEO Drew Houston said layoffs were “necessary” to implement new strategies, like investing in distributed work tools and evolving the core product, in an announcement on Wednesday
Dropbox will offer laid off workers in North America three months of base pay and six months of healthcare. Impacted employees will get notice of their termination on January 13 through one-on-one conversations.
Houston called the decision one of the toughest he’s had to make in 14 years as CEO.
"To each of you who are affected, I am truly sorry," Houston said in a release. "The steps we're taking today are painful, but necessary."
The company also announced Olivia Nottebohm will step down from her role as chief operating officer on February 5. Dropbox hired Nottebohm, the former vice president of sales and operations at Google Cloud, last year.
Nottebohm was brought on alongside four new executives following high leadership turnover at Dropbox in 2019, Insider's Paayal Zaveri reported.
Dropbox announced its first profitable quarter in May 2020, driven in part by a increased online work during the coronavirus pandemic. In November, the firm said revenue improved 14% from a year ago, or to $487 million from $428 million.
Houston said the company will also scale back investments to support in-office workers after Dropbox announced it would allow all employees to work from home permanently.
Dropbox went public in 2018 as a $9.2 billion company, slightly lower than its private value estimate. The company is currently valued at $9.4 billion. Shares were down slightly during Wednesday trading after news of the layoff.