Today, we announced that we are reducing the size of our team by roughly 10% as part of an organisational restructure within WeTransfer.
It is a hard moment for us at WeTransfer, and we didn’t take this decision lightly. Our talented employees are and always will be at the heart of what we do. It is an unfortunate but necessary step in our growth journey.
Despite the current macroeconomic backdrop, we continue to grow profitably. The changes announced today are being made to unlock even greater efficiency and deeper alignment to accelerate towards our vision of connecting the world with creativity.
Evolving how we run the business is not new for us – as a scale-up, we’ve adapted before as our business has grown and as we’ve seized opportunities to bring more value to our users. Our ability to reimagine established playbooks has been part of our historic success. This has enabled us to build an audience of around 80 million monthly active users and well above half a million subscribers, a platform relied upon by hundreds of global brands as an impactful advertising billboard, and a company culture with people and creativity at its core.
As we navigate these changes, we are committed to continue to serve best-in-class creative ads, nurture our trusted brand and keep building intuitive products.
Creativity is the cornerstone of WeTransfer and it remains our compass, before and after these changes. Our commitment to creativity has helped cement our platform in the world and made WeTransfer the recognised and beloved brand it is today. My personal goal is for us to stay true to that while continuing to build great technology. Meanwhile, we remain a proud B-Corp, and our commitment to donate 1% of annual revenue to The Supporting Act Foundation in support of emerging artists is unchanged.
For those impacted today, we have set out to help in a way that is true to who we are: with a people-first and responsible approach.
We know so many employees have side projects and talents alongside their work at WeTransfer and have carefully thought about ways to support to make these sad endings offer new beginnings for those who wish to pursue their passions or find their next career opportunity. This includes:
Enhanced Severance: above-market severance
Business Kickstarter Grant: All impacted employees are eligible to apply for a Business Kickstrater grant of up to 5,000 EUR/GBP/USD to help those who want to start or grow their own businesses
Benefits: benefits remain in place throughout extended transition
Options: Options continue vesting throughout extended transition. Vested Options not affected
Career Support: Interview support and training available from our HR team
Extras: Any unused 2023 perk allowances added to severance packages; learning allowance of 2,500 EUR/GBP/USD; senior leadership mentorship sessions available
Looking ahead
While the changes today are difficult, I have never thought more highly of the future opportunity for WeTransfer in the creative tech space. We have all the right ingredients to continue being an indispensable partner to ambitious creatives in their quest to make a sustainable living out of their talents: from an impeccable brand to millions of users to a powerful vision and sustainable business model.
We are building new products that help creatives earn a living, as well as investing in our own platforms like WePresent, the Supporting Act Foundation, and the 30% of our advertising wallpapers we donate to the creative community. We’re excited to move into our new Amsterdam HQ in January 2024 and will be looking for opportunities to bring employees together for shared moments and company growth milestones.
This is a testing period for everyone and we will focus on helping the brilliant people who will be leaving WeTransfer. Beyond that, I have no doubt that together we are putting WeTransfer on the right foot to reach new heights.
Alexandar Vassilev