Squarespace Cuts About 300 Jobs, 19% of Its Workforce
Squarespace is laying off about one-fifth of its staff. The cut comes as AI-driven site builders change how websites get made.
A 2021 listing and a 2024 buyout
The company, founded in 2004, listed on the stock market in 2021 with a $10 billion valuation. Public investors showed little enthusiasm for the stock in the following years, and in 2024 a $7 billion buyout by private equity took the company off the market.
Today it sells tools for building and hosting websites. It has also started its own push into AI: a tool called Blueprint arrived in 2024, and Forma, an upcoming AI-native platform, already has a waitlist.
A market rebuilt by prompts
"Vibe-coding" builders turn a few plain prompts into usable front-end designs. They have largely upended the industry, since a site now takes far less effort to make.
Money has followed them. Wix bought Base44 for $80 million last year. Lovable, a similar product, raised a $400 million Series C in August at a valuation of $13.3 billion. Google recently launched Stitch, which generates user-interface designs quickly.
The 19% reduction
Spokesperson Jeff Seedman confirmed the layoffs to TechCrunch, after The Verge first reported them. Squarespace is cutting its global workforce by approximately 19%, or about 300 people.
The changes are "intended to simplify how we operate, sharpen our priorities and enable the company to move faster," Seedman said.
The statement does not say which teams or regions are affected.
Our view
Which roles go will say a lot about the plan. If the cuts fall mostly on product teams, Forma looks less central; if they fall on support or back-office functions, the AI push is likely being protected. Any later detail from Squarespace on the affected teams, or on when Forma opens beyond a waitlist, would settle the question.
Source: TechCrunch