CNN
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A cute cartoon duck can be the bearer of bad news.
Stripe is laying off 300 people, or about 3.5% of its global workforce — and in emails to some laid-off employees, the company mistakenly sent an image of a yellow cartoon duck, a spokesperson confirmed to CNN. .
Some employees also received incorrect termination dates in emails Monday, adding more awkward insult to injury. After that the errors were corrected. By Rob McIntosh, Stripe’s chief people officer, in a memo to employees shared with CNN.
“Some affected strips received an error notification in their personal email accounts,” McIntosh said. “I apologize for the error and any confusion this may have caused. Since then, correct and complete notifications have been sent to all affected belts.”
The payment processor layoff and the curious incident of the duck was first reported. Business Insider.
A Stripe spokesperson confirmed that the layoffs are part of an annual review and development plan. The online payments company, which had about 8,500 employees before Monday’s holiday, aims to expand its workforce to 10,000 by the end of the year.
Stripe, one of the most valuable private startups in the U.S., had laid off about 14 percent of its workforce in 2022 amid a wave of layoffs in tech.
