Batten down the hatches, workers, the next 12 months could really suck as AI permeates offices. <\/p>\n
“When I talk to peers, everyone says, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna do that [mass layoffs].’ But they’re like, ‘I’m going to do it when everyone else does it.’ And honestly, I think that’s poor leadership, because in six to 12 months, when we’re going to see more of these layoffs, it’s going to be much harder for those people laid off at that time to get a job,” Cloudflare (NET<\/a>) co-founder and CEO Matthew Prince told Yahoo Finance at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity on Wednesday. <\/p>\n Prince is speaking from recent experience. <\/p>\n Cloudflare announced a workforce reduction of roughly 20% in May, eliminating more than 1,100 jobs globally in the largest layoff in the company’s history. <\/p>\n At the time, the company framed the aggressive cuts as a structural pivot into the “agentic AI era.” It came after Cloudflare witnessed a 600% surge in internal AI tool usage, per the company. <\/p>\n Cloudflare is part of a growing number of tech giants laying off workers because of AI productivity gains. Others include Amazon (AMZN<\/a>), Oracle (ORCL<\/a>), Coinbase (COIN<\/a>), Robinhood (HOOD<\/a>), Salesforce (CRM<\/a>), Meta (META<\/a>), and Microsoft (MSFT<\/a>). <\/p>\n “I think once we realized it was something we had to do, we made the decision it was the kindest thing that we could do for the team to do as early as possible,” Prince said. <\/p>\n The company’s most recent quarterly results showed the cuts were not a sign of financial distress. <\/p>\n Cloudflare saw a 34% year-over-year revenue surge to $639.8 million as businesses invested in security infrastructure in the age of AI. <\/p>\n The company notched a 73% jump in deals worth over $1 million, alongside a 25% increase in large enterprise customers paying more than $100,000 annually. <\/p>\n Earnings per share easily beat analyst forecasts. <\/p>\n Cloudflare stock is up 13% year to date. <\/p>\n Brian Sozzi<\/a> is Yahoo Finance’s Executive Editor and a member of Yahoo Finance’s editorial leadership team. Follow Sozzi on X @BrianSozzi<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, and LinkedIn<\/a>. Tips on stories? Email brian.sozzi@yahoofinance.com. <\/p>\n Click here for the latest technology news that will impact the stock market<\/strong><\/a> <\/p>\n Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance<\/strong><\/a> <\/p>\n