Stripe lays off 300 employees, with a picture of a duck

Stripe lays off 300 employees, sends a duck image and wrong termination date in error.

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Stripe, a business software company specializing in payment processing for online businesses, laid off 300 employees on Monday, mainly from product, engineering, and operations roles.

The company, which helps businesses manage payments, subscriptions, and other financial services, has undergone several rounds of layoffs in recent years.

However, the termination process for some employees was notably mishandled. A number of affected workers received a photo of a duck along with their layoff notification.

The image, described as a "yellow duck with brown feathers," was accompanied by the phrase "US-Non-California Duck." This unusual and confusing inclusion was later confirmed by Stripe as an error.

Photo: @aseoconnor on X

On top of that, some employees also received an incorrect termination date, further compounding the confusion. Stripe's chief people officer, Rob McIntosh, issued an apology for the errors and assured that corrected notifications had been sent out.

This marks the second major round of layoffs at Stripe in recent years. In 2022, the company cut its workforce by 14%, affecting employees across various departments, including engineering.

CEO Patrick Collison addressed the layoffs in a staff memo, acknowledging the difficulty of the decision and offering severance packages with benefits such as 14 weeks of severance pay, an annual bonus, paid time off, healthcare continuation, and career support.

It remains unclear whether Stripe will offer a similar severance package for the current layoffs, though the company’s handling of notifications has already raised concerns.