Pinterest CEO puts staffers on blast who created tool to track layoffs

on Pinterest CEO Bill Ready scolded employees who created an internal tool to track layoffs at the company and fired those involved.

“Healthy debate and dissent is expected, that’s how we make our decisions,” Ready said at a companywide meeting last week, according to an audio recording obtained by CNBC. “But there is a clear line between constructive discussion and obstructive behavior.”

Pinterest announced on Jan. 27 that it would lay off less than 15% of its workforce and reduce office space as part of a broader restructuring aimed at directing resources to artificial intelligence projects. The company said it expects the layoffs to be completed by the end of September.

Following the announcement, Pinterest’s chief technology officer addressed the layoffs in a meeting. Some employees asked which teams were affected and whether more layoffs were coming, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the meeting was private.

Several Pinterest engineers then created an internal software tool to try and measure layoffs. Pinterest fired engineers on Friday, the person said. It is unclear how many employees were laid off.

Ready defended the move at a general meeting on Friday, saying Pinterest was facing a “critical moment” in the industry. If employees are “working against the company’s instructions” and disagree with the company’s mission, he said, they should consider working elsewhere.

Ready said Pinterest will not disclose detailed information about layoffs due to employee privacy concerns.

“I know people have a natural curiosity about these things,” Ready said. “We have shared some of these larger structural changes. The smaller ones will be communicated at the team level.”

A company spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Pinterest is investing heavily in artificial intelligence to surface more personalized and relevant content and keep users coming back to its platform. Automated tools for marketers have also been introduced to better compete with digital advertising leaders. Meta And Google.

Investors expressed concerns There’s debate about whether the growing popularity of consumer chatbots from OpenAI, Google and others could steal users and ad dollars from Pinterest. There is particular concern about the use of AI agents for shopping, which “squeezes the discovery and acquisition market across rival platforms,” ​​Wedbush analysts wrote in a research note last week.

Pinterest shares are down 20% so far this year after falling 11% in 2025.

“We can’t tolerate each other obstructing us, especially when we have such a meaningful mission but also when the odds are stacked against us,” Ready said. “We think we can overcome these challenges, but the only way we can succeed as a small purpose-built player competing against the largest companies in the history of the world is if we work together, constructively, with clarity and focus.”

Recently, Pinterest’s ad sales have slowed as some major U.S. retailers recover from the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariff policies.

Technology companies continued to shrink this year as they look for more ways to increase efficiency and invest in artificial intelligence. Amazon Last week, it announced it would lay off about 16,000 corporate employees, after laying off 14,000 in October. Meta lays off about 10% of staff at its Reality Labs unit, while the design software maker autodesk It laid off about 7% of its workforce.

WRISTWATCH: Pinterest CEO Bill Ready learned an important business lesson early