Stripe Lays Off 300 Workers, Sends Cartoon Duck Image

Stripe, a leading payment technology firm, laid off 300 employees this week, constituting about 3.5% of its workforce, primarily in product, engineering, and operations roles. In a notable misstep, some affected employees received an email notifying them of their termination that included a cartoon image of a duck labeled 'US-Non-California Duck' along with incorrect termination dates. The company's Chief People Officer, Rob McIntosh, expressed regret over the errors and confirmed that corrected notifications were sent afterward. Stripe's layoffs come amidst a larger trend of workforce reductions in the tech industry, as companies adjust after over-hiring during the pandemic. Despite the layoffs, Stripe aims to increase its overall headcount to 10,000 by the end of the year. The incident has sparked employee discussions on internal forums, with some humorously suggesting the creation of a Slack emoji featuring the duck.