This afternoon, we’re reaching out to everyone on our global team. Transparency is a core part of who we are at Cloudflare, and we feel strongly that you should hear this from us directly, because it’s an important turning point for the company.
Team,
We’re letting you know that we’ve made the difficult decision to reduce Cloudflare’s workforce by more than 1,100 employees across the globe.
The way Cloudflare operates has fundamentally shifted. We don’t just develop and offer AI tools and platforms; we are our own most demanding user. Cloudflare’s internal use of AI has grown by over 600% in just the last three months. Staff members across every function, from engineering to HR to finance to marketing, run thousands of AI agent sessions daily to do their work. That’s why we need to be deliberate about how we redesign our company for the agentic AI era, so we can maximize the value we bring to our customers and fulfill our mission of helping build a better Internet for everyone, everywhere.
Today is a tough day. This decision means, regrettably, parting with colleagues who have made meaningful contributions to our mission and to making Cloudflare one of the most successful companies in the world. We want to be absolutely clear: this is in no way a reflection of the individual effort or ability of those leaving. Rather, we are rethinking every process, team, and role throughout the entire organization. These actions aren’t about cost savings or individual performance reviews; they’re about Cloudflare defining how a world-class, high-growth company should operate and create value in the age of agentic AI.
This is a moment that we, as founders and leaders, feel we need to own personally. Matthew has personally sent out every offer letter we’ve ever extended. It’s a tradition he has always treasured because it symbolized our growth and the remarkable people joining our mission. It didn’t feel right for this message to come from anyone other than the two of us. Instead of filtering this through layers of management, we’re sending emails directly to every single employee.
Within the next hour, every team member worldwide will receive an email from both of us explaining exactly how this change affects them. For those leaving today, we’ll be sending the update to both their personal and Cloudflare email addresses so they can access the information right away.
We care deeply about treating departing team members with dignity, going beyond what’s typically seen in the industry. We believe that acting with empathy doesn’t mean hard decisions should be avoided; it’s about how you treat people when those decisions are made. If we expect our team to hold themselves to a world-class standard, we have a matching obligation to treat them in a world-class way. We’re pairing the straightforwardness of these actions with severance packages that set the industry standard. Departing employees will receive the equivalent of their full base salary through the end of 2026. Healthcare arrangements vary around the world, and if you’re based in the United States, we’ll continue to provide coverage support through the end of the year. We’re also accelerating equity vesting through August 15th, so departing team members will receive stock beyond their last day. And for those who haven’t yet reached their one-year vesting cliffs, we’re waiving those and will vest their prorated equity through August as well.
We’ve asked the company to go through this just once, as painful as it is today. We don’t want to repeat this for the foreseeable future. By taking decisive action now, we provide immediate clarity to those leaving and safeguard the stability of the team moving forward. We’re making these changes now because making smaller, ongoing cuts or stretching a reorganization out over several quarters creates prolonged emotional stress for employees and hinders our ability to build. It’s the right thing to do, it’s the honest thing to do, and it reflects the values of the company we’re continuing to shape.
Cloudflare started as a digitally native, cloud-built company. That allowed us to catch up to and surpass competitors who had years or even decades of a head start but were weighed down by legacy systems and outdated processes. Now that we’re the leader, we can’t rely on the workflows and organizational structures that served us in the past. We’re confident that our reshaped organization will move even faster and be even more innovative as we keep building the future.
To those leaving: you’ve helped lay the strong foundation that Cloudflare stands on today. We have the deepest respect for your work and are grateful for the impact you’ve made. We’re confident you’ll land on your feet at other amazing places, and many of you will build the next generation of great companies, carrying forward the unique skills you developed while helping build Cloudflare.
Transparency is a core principle at Cloudflare, and it was important to us that you hear this from us first. We’ll be on our earnings conference call at 2 PM PT, where we’ll share more details. We also plan to address today’s announcements live with the full team at our all-hands meeting.
It’s not an easy day, but we believe it’s the right decision. Our mission to help build a better Internet matters now more than ever, and there’s still a great deal of important work ahead of us.
