Cloud storage platform, Dropbox announced on Thursday that it would reduce its global headcount by 16% in order to cut expenses amid slowing cloud growth and instead attract fresh talent to expand its AI offerings.
The company stated that it had moved some personnel from one team to another to focus on its AI initiatives, but that it would require more talent with a diverse range of skill sets, notably in AI and early-stage product development.
“We’ve been bringing in great talent in these areas over the last couple years and we’ll need even more,” Houston said in a memo to staff.
“The AI era of computing has finally arrived … The opportunity in front of us is greater than ever, but so is our need to act with urgency to seize it.”
Based in San Francisco, California Dropbox is the latest tech business to use AI, as companies ranging from Microsoft to Facebook parent Meta compete for a piece of the fast-growing market with new products and services.
Dropbox CEO Drew Houston stated that the company’s core cloud business development was slowing as the economic crisis put pressure on customers, making some of its profitable initiatives unsustainable.
The company had 3,118 full-time employees at the end of 2022, with 2,583 of them based in the United States.
