Wix is laying off 20% of staff. Read the memo — and yes, it mentions AI.

Wix is laying off 20% of its workforce, citing AI and currency challenges.
CEO Avishai Abrahami cited the need for Wix to become leaner and more efficient.
Wix is the latest company to mention AI and a flatter structure when making job cuts.

Wix is laying off around 20% of staff.

In a message to staff shared by CEO Avishai Abrahami on X, he cited the "fast evolution of AI capabilities" and said the company needed to become a "faster, leaner, and flatter organization."

Israel-headquartered Wix, which provides website-building software, employs just under 5,300 workers, meaning around 1,000 roles are set to be cut.

Abrahami also cited the Israeli shekel strengthening against the US dollar in recent quarters, which he said "creates a structural pressure" on Wix's ability to operate.

Wix joins Snap, Block, Atlassian, and a handful of other companies in citing AI when making layoffs this year. Often, the language used by executives in these layoff announcements is similar — as Business Insider's Dan DeFrancesco pointed out in April.

In his memo, Abrahami mentioned two roles that the company recently created that he said were designed around "AI-native" work: "Xengineer" and "Creators." The Xengineer is a "design-first engineer" who uses AI throughout the development lifecycle, according to a Wix blog published in January.

Wix is also one of the companies at risk from the so-called "SaaSpocalypse," the idea that AI can replicate tools and products sold by established software firms. The company has embraced AI to compete with the likes of vibe-coding platform Lovable, but Wix's share price is down 23% since the start of the year.

Read Abrahami's memo to staff announcing the layoffs:

Today is a sad day for me. We have made a very hard decision.

We are reducing the Wix team size by roughly 20%. It is one of the hardest decisions I have had to make, but I am confident it is the right one, and I will explain why.

Before I go into anything else, let me say - this is a very hard decision because I will be saying goodbye to many people who have worked with me for years, many whom I call friends, people I trust and respect, friends who poured their energy and talent into Wix. Team members I know personally, and team members I never had the chance to meet, but whose commitment and contribution I have witnessed.

So thank you. Thank you for the effort, for the talent, for the passion, and for the friendship.

We are doing this as a company-wide change, a decision that will impact the entire organization, driven by how we need to operate going forward.

Why are we doing this?
The first reason is the Shekel/Dollar rates. In the past few quarters the exchange rate between the Shekel and the US dollar has shifted significantly as the Israeli Shekel strengthens against the US Dollar almost every day. As the majority of our teams are Israel-based, a very meaningful portion of our costs are shekel-denominated, while our revenue is largely dollar-denominated. This creates a structural pressure on our ability to operate at our current scale. It is a reality that directly shapes what is sustainable for our company.

The second stems from the fast evolution of AI capabilities. We have witnessed the most significant shift in how companies are built since the invention of modern programming languages in the 1970s. This is not just about adopting new tools - it is about rewiring how companies are built, how they think, how they manage and how they operate. Companies that embrace this change will not only build faster; they will build things the previous generation literally could not have imagined.

We are already taking concrete steps in this direction. As you know, we've recently introduced new roles like Xengineer and Creators, designed from the ground up around AI-native ways of working, a meaningful step towards the kind of company we are becoming.

It also means we need to become a faster, leaner, and flatter organization. We are moving to a structure with fewer levels between any member of our leadership and the most junior person on the team. Fewer layers means faster decisions, clearer ownership, and less distance between the people setting direction and the people building the product - but it also means a smaller number of people.

It is clear to us that in this new era, companies need to make this change in order to lead and compete or risk falling behind.

We are choosing to compete.

It is a painful change, a change that touches the lives of many, but I truly believe we have no other choice - we must evolve.

To those of you who are being let go
I want to once more say: Thank you.

Those who are affected will be contacted in person, directly, and we will do everything in our power to handle each conversation with sensitivity, respect, and the care you deserve, you will also be granted personally curated separation packages.

Many of you have given years to this company and built things we are genuinely proud of. I am personally grateful for what you've created, for the culture you've shaped, and for the trust you placed in us. More than anything, this decision was about the shape of the company we need to become. We own that - and we own the responsibility of supporting all of you through what comes next.

To those of you who are staying
What happens in the next few days matters. The people leaving this company are your colleagues, your friends, people you've built things with. They deserve to walk out of here with their heads held high, knowing that their work was real and that we recognize it. Please treat them with the respect they've earned. How we say goodbye says as much about who we are, as anything we've ever built together.

Our broader commitment
Before anything else, our commitment is to our users - to make the hard decisions so Wix continues to be the company that helps them succeed. We work for our users.

Millions of people run their businesses on Wix. Their world is also changing, also uncertain, also shaped by the current shifts. They rely on us - our reliability, our innovation, and our commitment to their success.

The responsibility does not stop with our users - behind every Wix shareholder is a real person whose savings, pension, or investment is tied to how we perform. We take this responsibility very seriously.

If we do not make this change, we will be failing our responsibility to our users, our shareholders, and our employees. In the long run, what is best for our users is best for our employees and best for our shareholders.

Today's decision was made to ensure we are here for our users and our shareholders, you among them, stronger and more capable, for years to come. We are doing this today because we are committed to building a company that is healthy, durable, and positioned to lead.

We will come out of this faster, stronger and better equipped for this new era.

Avishai