Post
Shot:
CloudFlare fires 20% staff claiming it's because of "AI"-related productivity gains
https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/08/cloudflare-says-ai-made-1100-jobs-obsolete-even-as-revenue-hit-a-record-high/
Chaser:
Since that announcement CloudFlare stock lost 22% of value.
Even investors seem to not be buying the "AI productivity gains" bullshit anymore. 
@rysiek good.
That's still 100% too much value for #ClownFlare, which should be bankrupted for being a #RogueISP!
@rysiek I wouldn't say no productivity gains at all 20% seems reasonable as a first order approximation if you do a lot of boilerplate stuff... it's just you know it isn't thaaaat much when you factor in all the creative new ways your employees now find to fuck up faster than before. Certainly not enough in there to downsize your operation like this. So yea, speaking in my limited capacity of shareholding, I wouldn't touch that stock with the longest stick you care to produce.
@zeri I have seen study after study blowing the productivity gains stuff out of the water.
Regardless though, if you're CloudFlare and suddenly you can actually do 20% more with your staff, why fire them, why pay severance? Why not expand, finish that lingering internal systems rebuild project, create new services or improve the ones you already have?
Unless, of course, there is *something else* behind that need to save money. 👀
More likely *actual* reasons for those layoffs in general in the tech industry – I am too lazy to look into CloudFlare specifically:
Section 174 tax shenanigans
https://qz.com/tech-layoffs-tax-code-trump-section-174-microsoft-meta-1851783502
Overhiring during COVID
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/01/22/tech/big-tech-pandemic-hiring-layoffs
Firing people to fund data center build-outs which banks no longer seem interested in lending money for
https://www.cio.com/article/4125103/oracle-may-slash-up-to-30000-jobs-to-fund-ai-data-center-expansion-as-us-banks-retreat.html
And yes, managers outright admit they are using the "AI productivity gains" lie to explain layoffs because it works better with stockholders than admitting the real causes behind them:
https://www.resume.org/the-great-turnover-9-in-10-companies-plan-to-hire-in-2026-yet-6-in-10-will-have-layoffs-2/
Funny how that did not seem to work that well for CloudFlare, huh. 
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