Payment Processor Stripe Lays Off Employees Via Cartoon Duck

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Payment Processor Stripe Lays Off Employees Via Cartoon Duck

There has been seemingly non-stop news of layoffs in January, with CNN, Citigroup and Microsoft cutting jobs this week alone. Typically, these notices are fairly standard – they contain a lot of legal language and little cartoons.

But that wasn't the case at Stripe, a payment software company that laid off 300 employees on Monday. Some employees in the various affected roles (product, operations, engineering) were notified via an illustration of a cartoon duck, Business Insider reports. The dates on the termination letters were also incorrect.

Related: 'There will be job cuts': Starbucks CEO announces corporate layoffs will begin soon

The illustration was sent as a PDF attachment labeled “US-Non-California Duck.” Business Insider received a picture of the yellow duck in a blind chat from employees.

“Communication with those fired was completely disorganized,” one employee reportedly wrote.

Software company Stripe laid off 300 employees this week and mysteriously and confusingly included a photo of a duck in the email informing employees of the layoff.

While this was clearly an avoidable faux pas, the far bigger mistake was that ##Stripe told 300 people they would… pic.twitter.com/oeIIWhkwOu

— Mark C. Crowley (@MarkCCrowley) January 23, 2025

A Stripe representative told Business Insider that follow-up emails were sent to affected employees.

“I apologize for the error and any confusion it may have caused,” wrote Rob McIntosh, the company’s chief human resources officer. “Correct and complete notifications have since been sent to all affected stripes.”

Related: Citigroup cut more jobs this week. Here are the affected roles.

According to CNBC, Stripe is valued at $70 billion in the private markets.

Despite the cuts, McIntosh said the company is “not slowing down on hiring” and expects to increase its workforce by 17% to 10,000 this year.