Wix and Cloudflare Fire 20% of Staff to Blame It on 'AI Evolution'

The massive reorganization at Wix means saying goodbye to approximately 20% of its workforce, which translates to about 1,000 employees. CEO Avishai Abrahami defended the move by claiming the tech world is experiencing a cosmic shift in how companies are built, comparing the current artificial intelligence boom to the birth of modern programming languages in the 1970s. Apparently, adapting to this brave new world requires having fewer humans on the payroll.

While the AI narrative sounds incredibly futuristic, the company's finance department is dealing with a much older and more boring problem: money. The Israeli shekel has strengthened by nearly 30% against the US dollar over the past year. Because Wix keeps its main offices in Israel but collects its revenue in depreciating dollars, their bank account is feeling the squeeze.

To make matters worse, the latest financial reports showed a rather gloomy picture. Wix missed Wall Street expectations for the first quarter of 2026 across almost every metric, reporting revenue of $541.2 million instead of the projected $543.6 million. The company's operating margin plummeted to a negative 12.9%, compared to a healthy 7.9% positive margin during the same period last year.

Meanwhile, Cloudflare decided to join the AI-themed layoff party. The web infrastructure giant announced it is letting go of over 1,100 of its own workers. Just like their website-building peers, the executives at Cloudflare are pointing their fingers at the rapid rise of machine learning to justify the sudden empty desks.

Blaming AI has officially become the ultimate get-out-of-jail-free card for tech executives who failed to hit their quarterly targets. If a company cannot balance its budget or handle currency fluctuations, it can simply fire a fifth of its staff, label it 'technological evolution,' and watch the stock market cheer the cost-cutting measures. It is a brilliant corporate magic trick that leaves hundreds of families wondering if they were replaced by an actual robot or just a bad spreadsheet.

Source: Fast Company