HUBSPOT CUTS 660 JOBS FOR AI REASONS THAT ARE ABSOLUTELY NOT AI REASONS, SAYS CEO

HubSpot is cutting about 660 people, 7% of the company, and CEO Yamini Rangan would like it on the record that this is not AI taking jobs. It's a reorganization around delivering customer outcomes with AI. She said the cuts are "not driven by AI-related efficiencies" and also "not simply a cost-cutting exercise," which leaves a fairly narrow lane for what it actually is. The board approved it October 1, the memo landed October 6, and the restructuring runs $65 million to $75 million, mostly severance. The company is not in trouble. Q2 revenue came in at $911.7 million, up 20% year over year, with 306,446 customers. The stock is down roughly 45% on the year because investors think small businesses will eventually have AI build their own CRM, so 660 people got cut over a thing that might happen. The phrasing is going around. Monday.com cut 20% of staff in July, about 620 jobs, and co-founder Eran Zinman said it "was not made to reduce costs or replace people with AI." Microsoft cut roughly 4,800 roles and said those jobs were "not being replaced by AI," then noted AI is changing how work gets done. Same sentence, three HR departments. FT counts nearly 140,000 US tech jobs gone this year, with Amazon, Oracle, Meta and Microsoft responsible for about 50,000 of them.

Why you should give a shit: No executive will ever say AI took your job, he'll say the company reorganized around AI, and your severance check clears for the same amount either way.