GitLab is laying off 7 percent of its workforce

GitLab will lay off 7 percent of its workforce. That amounts to approximately 130 employees. The layoffs are not in just one country, it seems. GitLab works completely remotely and has staff in more than 65 countries.

GitLab leader Sid Sijbrandij provides motivation notes that “current macroeconomic conditions are very tough,” which is causing companies considering GitLab services to be “more cautious about spending and waiting longer.” “I had hoped that reprioritizing our spending would be enough to address the growing global economic downturn. Unfortunately, we must take further steps and align our pace of spending with our commitment to responsible growth.”

The estimate of 130 employees is based on PitchBook, that CNBC consulted. GitLab does not reveal exactly how many employees it is saying goodbye to; it only speaks of 7 percent. It is therefore not disclosed where how many employees will be dismissed.

Sijbrandij states that the company will hold a ‘series’ of Ask Me Anythings to answer questions from employees and soon-to-be ex-employees. Presumably these will not be online and public.

GitLab is a DevOps platform that is seen as a major competitor to repository platform GitHub. GitHub was acquired by Microsoft in 2018, much to the dismay of many users. GitLab is the only major standalone player in the repository market, as Bitbucket was acquired by Atlassian.

Update, Friday 9.24: A previous version of this article stated that GitLab has offices around the world, but that is not entirely correct. GitLab operates with a fully remote workforce and the offices are more like postal addresses than workstations.