Pinterest CEO Bill Reddy speaks at the 28th Milken Institute Global Conference at the Beverly Hilton on May 5, 2025 in Beverly Hills, California.
Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images
pinterest CEO Bill Ready reprimanded a staffer who created an internal tool to track layoffs within the company and fired those involved.
“We expect healthy debate and dissent. That’s how we make decisions,” Reddy said in an all-hands meeting last week, according to audio obtained by CNBC. “However, there is a clear line between constructive discussion and disruptive behavior.”
Pinterest announced on January 27 that it would lay off less than 15% of its employees and reduce its 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 head of technology addressed layoffs at a meeting. Some employees asked questions about which teams would be affected and whether there would be further layoffs, said the people, who requested anonymity because the meeting was private.
Several Pinterest engineers then created an internal software tool to try to quantify the attrition. Pinterest fired the engineers on Friday, the person said. It is unclear how many employees were laid off.
Reddy defended the move during Friday’s all-hands meeting, saying Pinterest is facing a “critical moment” in the industry. He said if employees “work against the direction of the company” and don’t agree with the company’s mission, they should consider working elsewhere.
Reddy said Pinterest would not disclose detailed information about the layoffs due to employee privacy concerns.
“I know people have a natural curiosity about these things,” Reddy said. “We’ve shared some of the big structural changes. Smaller ones are communicated at the team level.”
A Pinterest spokesperson confirmed the engineer’s incident and the meeting at City Hall, but declined to comment on the firing.
“After being clearly informed that Pinterest would not broadly share information identifying affected employees, the two engineers created a custom script that had unauthorized access to confidential company information to identify the locations and names of all terminated employees, and shared it more broadly,” the spokesperson said. “This was a clear violation of Pinterest’s policies and my former colleague’s privacy.”
Pinterest is investing heavily in AI to show users more personalized and relevant content and keep users coming back to their platform. We are also rolling out automated tools for marketers to better compete with leaders in digital advertising. meta and google.
Investors have expressed concern that the growing popularity of consumer chatbots from companies like OpenAI and Google could steal users and ad dollars from Pinterest. Wedbush analysts said in a research note last week that they had particular concerns about the use of AI agents in shopping, which they said would “compress the discovery and purchase market on competing platforms.”
Pinterest stock is down 20% this year after falling 11% in 2025.
“We cannot tolerate sabotaging each other, especially when we have a very meaningful mission and the odds are stacked against us,” Reddy said. “We believe we can overcome such challenges, but as a small, purpose-driven player competing with the biggest companies in the history of the world, the only way we can succeed is by working together constructively, with clarity and focus.”
More recently, Pinterest ad sales have slowed as some of the biggest U.S. retailers weather the fallout from President Donald Trump’s tariff policies.
Tech companies have continued to downsize their operations this year, looking for more ways to increase efficiency and invest in AI. Amazon The company announced last week that it would lay off about 16,000 corporate employees, following the layoff of 14,000 employees in October. Meta will reduce headcount at its Reality Labs division by about 10%, while the design software maker autodesk Approximately 7% of the workforce was reduced.
WATCH: Pinterest CEO Bill Reddy learned one important business lesson early on
