CNN
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A cute cartoon duck can bring 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 accidentally sent an image of a cartoon yellow duck, a spokesperson confirmed to CNN.
Some employees also received incorrect termination dates in Monday’s emails, adding even more embarrassing insult to injury. The errors were subsequently corrected by Rob McIntosh, Stripe’s chief human resources officer, in a memo to employees shared with CNN.
“Some affected Stripes received a notification error on their personal email accounts,” McIntosh said. “I apologize for the error and any confusion it has caused. Corrected and complete notifications have since been sent to all affected Stripes.
The payment processor’s layoffs and curious duck incident were first reported by Business Insider.
The layoffs are part of an annual review and growth planning, a Stripe spokesperson confirmed. The online payments company, which had about 8,500 employees before Monday’s layoffs, aims to increase its workforce to 10,000 by the end of the year.
Stripe, which is one of the most valuable private startups in the United States, has laid off about 14% of its workforce in 2022 amid a wave of layoffs in the tech sector.