Canva cofounder Cliff Obrecht told employees the founders would “happily” step aside if they were no longer fit to lead, as staff questioned leadership after nearly 1,300 roles were affected by a restructure. Chief executive Melanie Perkins described the cuts as necessary to “refound” the company.
Obrecht was answering an employee who asked whether Canva’s current leaders were right to guide that effort. “We always ask ourselves if we’re the right people to lead this company,” he said, according to a transcript seen by Forbes Australia. “If we’re not, we’ll happily stand aside.”
He said the founders discuss leadership with Canva’s board and had been talking with directors throughout the restructure. The response placed a leadership question alongside a major change to the workforce and operations.
Board Members Back the Restructure
Former Disney chief executive Bob Iger and Tesla chair Robyn Denholm, both Canva board members, joined the all-hands remotely. Denholm’s board role had not been publicly revealed before the meeting; she joined in July 2024.
Iger said he had “been through many of these cycles” and called the leadership’s decision “the right thing at the right time.” He joined Canva’s board in 2022 after investing in the company. His remarks emphasized implementing strategy with determination and resolve, while treating employees with empathy.
He urged the founders to recognize disruption and create a strategy quickly. He said that response was important to protecting present value and maintaining long-term value. His comments gave staff a board member’s perspective as they considered the cuts.
Canva’s “No Longer Fit” Test Meets a Strategic Reset
Perkins said the restructure was Canva’s first major one since the company was founded in 2013. In a note to employees, she said product development had begun to require “more handovers and coordination than necessary,” and described streamlining operations as a reason for the cuts.
The company has been investing in artificial intelligence products. Canva announced Canva 2.0 in April as a reimagining of its platform around AI, but delayed many ambitious products after the cost of serving AI to millions of non-paying customers rose. In October, it launched Craft, its first foundation model, which Canva says will bring frontier AI capabilities at a fraction of the cost.
The report said Canva faces the threat of losing customers to OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude. It also said investors had reduced Canva’s valuation to as low as US$30.4 billion, from US$42 billion when it entered 2026. The source does not establish that any single factor caused the job cuts.
Founders Describe a Difficult Year
Perkins called the period Canva’s hardest year and said growth had slowed for the first time in a decade. She described it as the hardest moment in the company’s thirteen-year history, connecting the job reductions with slower growth and an effort to change operations.
The source reported Perkins and Obrecht each own an estimated 18 per cent of Canva and are worth US$7.6 billion apiece, according to Forbes estimates. Cofounder Cameron Adams holds about 9 per cent and is estimated to be worth US$3.8 billion. Perkins and Obrecht signed the Giving Pledge in 2021, promising to donate more than 80 per cent of their wealth through the Canva Foundation; Adams has also pledged most of his wealth.
For broader context on executive decisions and organizational direction, readers can examine how CEOs approach organizational strategy, a founder-led organization’s leadership transition, and Google’s AI leadership changes. These are separate companies and developments.
Obrecht’s answer leaves the founders’ continued leadership tied to their assessment of whether they remain right for the role. The company’s stated next step is implementing its strategy through the restructure, with Iger urging leaders to act decisively and with empathy.
Read the Forbes Australia report for the source account of the staff meeting and board remarks.
