OpenText

OpenText laid off approximately 400 employees, about 2% of its 20,000+ person global workforce, in the week of August 17, 2026, as part of its ongoing multi-year 'Business Optimization Plan.' The company said the cuts were part of continued cost containment after selling non-core businesses to pay down debt, and characterized the Canadian impact as minimal, citing 6% year-over-year Canadian headcount growth. This follows earlier rounds of the same plan: roughly 1,200 jobs cut in 2024, about 1,600 in May 2025, and roughly 880 in March 2026, bringing cumulative cuts under the plan to over 4,000 employees.

OpenText's ongoing 'Business Optimization Plan' has repeatedly framed workforce reduction as a consequence of AI automation. In April 2025, CEO Mark Barrenechea told employees in an internal email that AI was the company's 'number one priority and baseline expectation,' stating 'the work still needs to be done, it's just going to be done with a machine via AI' -- a message that preceded roughly 1,600 layoffs (about 7% of headcount) in May 2025. The company cut roughly 880 more jobs (about 4% of its ~22,000-person workforce) in March 2026 as the plan continued, following an initial 1,200-person round in 2024. Cumulative cuts across the multi-year plan exceed 3,700 employees, despite the company's Canadian headcount growing over the same period.