Major enterprise software company Intuit recently announced a large-scale restructuring plan, which is expected to cut about 17% of its workforce, affecting more than 3,000 people. The industry giant, known for its financial and tax software, stated that this layoff was not due to financial difficulties, but to comprehensively adjust the company's structure and fully focus core resources on the integration and development of artificial intelligence (AI) products.

Restructuring Focuses on AI Strategy

In an internal memo to employees, Intuit's CEO Sasan Ghaffari pointed out that the company needs to simplify its organizational structure to reduce operational complexity. He emphasized that in the face of industry changes brought by AI technology, Intuit must accelerate its pace, investing more human and financial resources into implementing its AI strategy to maintain long-term market competitiveness.

Although Intuit has served a massive number of users through its software such as TurboTax and QuickBooks, the market's reaction to this layoff has been relatively complex. In the past year, despite the global surge in AI-related stocks, Intuit's stock performance has remained weak, significantly lagging behind the S&P 500 index, indicating that investors remain skeptical about the effectiveness of its AI transformation.

Executive Pay of Millions Sparks Controversy

As the layoff news was released, the issue of executive compensation immediately became a focal point of public debate. According to the company's latest financial disclosures, CEO Ghaffari's total compensation for the 2025 fiscal year reached $36.8 million (approximately 251 million Chinese yuan), including substantial cash incentives and stock rewards.

While facing turmoil among frontline employees, Intuit has so far not made further comments on the specific details of the layoff, nor has it explained whether executives, board members, or the CEO himself will also take pay cuts. This phenomenon of "executives earning millions while frontline employees are laid off due to AI" has once again sparked widespread discussions about the social responsibilities of tech giants during the transition period.