Visa cut about 2,600 jobs on July 28, roughly 7% of its workforce, as part of a broader restructuring. In a widely reported-on memo, CEO Ryan McInerney wrote that “to best position Visa to lead this transformation, we must continue evolving how we work.” He added, “AI is also helping to accelerate this evolution and shape the way work gets done at Visa.”
What’s happening at Visa?
The cuts landed the same day as Visa’s fiscal third-quarter earnings and days before a $2.4 billion acquisition. Visa reported fiscal third-quarter results of net revenue up 14% year over year to $11.6 billion. Personnel expenses rose 40% in the quarter, largely from $563 million in severance tied to the reduction, according to the filing.
A WARN filing days later, covering 320 roles at the company’s Foster City campus, adds detail the original memo left out. Six vice presidents, 37 senior directors and 16 chief engineering or architecture roles were among those cut, alongside dozens of senior software engineers and technical researchers, according to reporting by the San Francisco Gate.
San Francisco Gate also reported that LinkedIn postings from three months earlier show the company was still hiring for VP roles at salaries between $235,700 and $458,000, plus incentive pay, in the same office where those roles were then eliminated.
Read more: BMW to shed 8,000 roles, following Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz cuts
Takeaways for HR leaders
A person familiar with the company’s reasoning told CNBC that AI played a significant role but wasn’t the sole driver. Evercore ISI analysts, cited by Reuters, called the move routine cost and resource reallocation rather than a signal of distress.
David Grossman, CEO of The Grossman Group, told HR Executive that Visa’s memo was fast and clearly disclosed, but that isn’t the same as taking ownership. He pointed out that the decision is framed as serving Visa, its clients and its partners, with no sentence naming what departing employees built or lost. Roughly 34,000 employees learned that 2,600 jobs were being cut before individual notifications went out, a timing Grossman calls the most damaging hour in the process.
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